Hermione's Gift
by PhoenixTailAndHolly
Summary: Set during HBP. Ron sits by a sleeping Hermione, mumbling about his thoughts on their relationship. When he wakes up the next morning, he discovers a present. Will it mark the beginning of a long, secret path to their relationship? This story is fun to read for those who enjoy riddles.
1. A Late-Night Confession

**a/n: this story was posted by me a long time ago (pre book 7) on another site. I have decided to repost it here. The story is completely finished, but I will update it per chapter. **

It had been quite an ordeal. Being poisoned on your birthday isn't exactly what anyone would wish for, but it certainly had its benefits. After having been asleep for what felt like a decade, he awoke early in the morning in the hospital wing to find Hermione sleeping next to him. After waking her up, she had told him she had decided to accompany him as often as possible, for as long as possible, until he was asleep. Ron couldn't believe his luck. They were on speaking terms again! He had felt quite horrible seeing Hermione cry during his post-euphoric hook-up with Lavender. Though he would never tell her, he knew he had deserved her barrage of yellow kamikaze origami.

In the weeks that followed, Hermione still wasn't her old self though. Every time Lavender came within twenty feet of Ron, she would silently stalk off. Lavender had been annoying him for quite some time now. She had nothing interesting to say, nothing to challenge him or make him laugh. Kissing her had become a decision he had began to dislike, as odd as that might seem to him. It had made him a bit bolder around Hermione, more daring to show his affection to her. Though these moments were rare and perhaps not bold enough, he knew she knew enough. All that needed to be solved was getting rid of Lavender. She really did seem to like him, for reasons unknown to him. Perhaps it was because he was a prefect now.

It had been a widespread rumour that Ronald Weasley had become prefect only because Dumbledore had suffered temporary insanity that day. Even Ron knew that Harry would have been the better choice. It was nice to share prefect duty and meetings with Hermione, but even he could not think of anything that made him stand out over the rest (not taking his physique into account off course). Sometimes, when he could not sleep, and even his thoughts of Hermione could not put him into stupor, he wondered if he should have gone to Dumbledore and demanded to be un-prefected.

This was one of those nights. Harry and Neville were snoring soundly in their four-posters. The others breathed with deep, long breaths. It was several minutes past midnight, and the whole of the castle was silent. Every sound was deadened. Even the wind seemed to have died down to keep quiet. Ron was wide-awake. Every part of him felt alive and above all, bored. Ron decided to go out and creep down to the kitchen to get some food.  
_That might soothe me to sleep. I've been thinking about Hermione for hours now._  
He 'borrowed' Harry's invisibility cloak and threw it over himself. After quickly checking himself (or more accurately, the absence of himself) in the mirror, he left the dormitories.

On his way back from the kitchens where he had eaten a nice big scoop of ice (two house elves had been needed to carry it to him), Ron passed the common room. He had given it little thought on the way out, since there usually isn't anything to give thought about. Something red caught his eyes, though. Hermione had apparently forgotten her embroidery, since it was lying on one of the arms of her favourite chair. It was bright red and actually shaped like a sock, which was remarkable for her at that time.  
_She must've been working with it for a while._ He picked it up, to take it with him. She would be pleased no-one had snatched it in her absence. When Ron turned around, he let out a silent scream. He had expected the chair to be empty, but instead, it was filled with the sleeping form of Hermione. Standing there, Ron looked down on her. She could not see him, even if she wasn't asleep. It was the perfect opportunity to stare at her without being ashamed or being interrupted.

She was wearing her usual: school robes over a pair of blue jeans and a white shirt. Ron looked looked at her face. It was pretty. She was prettier than Lavender. Lavender was the girl that was pretty from afar, but far from pretty up close.  
"I always thought Lavender was pretty, until I saw her up close", Ron mumbled. "I mean, sure, she's got nice blonde hair and all, but there just isn't any spark. Rather unlike you and me. I guess you never realized just how pretty your curls are. I wonder if …"  
For just a moment, Ron thought Hermione was awake. Her breathing seemed irregular and her eyes looked like they were shifting under their lids. _Probably just having a dream._

Ron sat by Hermione for a while; softly mumbling about how much he loved to be with her, how much he was sorry about Lavender and how much he would like to kiss her. Somehow, telling her felt soothing, as if a weight was being lifted from his shoulders. It was only at the strike of half passed one on the clock that Ron got interrupted.  
"Look at the time; I guess its time for me to head back. Don't want you to get angry with me tomorrow for being sleepy. It's not prefect behaviour. Not that I'm such a great prefect anyway. I've been thinking about handing the badge over to Harry, you know."  
"No, Ron! You're really a good prefect!" Hermione said, suddenly springing to life, "there is no need for you to doubt yourself!"  
Ron's face suddenly turned paler than the moon. _Has she been awake all this time?_  
"You're a really just and authoritative prefect. People listen to you; they do what you tell them to do. People don't do that to anybody. Even bossy me can't stop half the things you can. You can't just quit!"  
Ron's face now flushed scarlet. It was good he had the invisibility cloak on, or she might have seen how embarrassed he was. He had never felt like he was better in anything than Hermione apart from Quidditch and Wizard's Chess.

"Did you mean it?" Hermione asked after he had removed the invisibility cloak.  
"Mean what?" Ron replied.  
"Everything silly!" Hermione said, "Do you really think my curls are pretty?"  
"Of course! Everything about you is pretty. Others might not see it, but I do."  
"I guess you shouldn't tell Lavender that," Hermione whispered lovingly, "She might get upset."

Later that night, Ron decided this night was not for sleeping. Hermione and he had been talking for hours on end about everything and nothing. It's strange how much you have to tell someone you haven't spoken to for a while. Especially if you've really wanted to tell her everything that was happening in your life. Hermione had told him he had to go back up to his dormitory. They had noticed it was passed three o'clock and she would not stay longer. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and sent him off to bed.

Ron had been afraid to start about his feelings about her, apart from telling her how much he missed her company. Telling her when she was asleep was easy; she would never have heard it. But he had never found the courage to tell her face-to-face. _I don't have to tell her any more. She heard everything I had to say already._

"Things are going to change. Now that she knows how I feel about her, I will not back down. I will kiss her before the end of this week. Well, make that this month." In the end, he swore he would kiss her before he turned eighteen.

Next morning was a hard one. Harry and the others had been up and dressed already, while Ron was still fighting his sleep in bed.  
"There's a present for you, Ron." Harry said sleepily. "It's on your bedside table."  
Ron opened his eyes. Upon his bedside table was a small round parcel with a small piece of parchment on it.  
"Who's it from?", Harry asked.  
"Dunno mate, but I've got a pretty good hunch."  
The small parcel felt soft and light. Upon it was a small piece op parchment. It smelled faintly of something familiar, but he couldn't put his finger to what it was exactly. Upon the parchment was written, in a very pretty handwriting:

_"Dear Ron,_

This is for your birthday. I hope  
you enjoy them, I wanted my  
present to be personal.  
See if you can figure it out..."

There wasn't any name on it, but the handwriting made it obvious whom it came from. Ron unwrapped his present quickly and eagerly. Out of them fell two socks. They were bright red and had a small imprint on their sides. Both socks showed a cauldron with steam going out of them. They both spelled the same words: "The Burrow".  
_That's got Hermione written on it front and back. I wonder what the imprints mean though._


	2. Weasel King and his Mudblood Queen

Ron had trouble waking up. His mind seemed reluctant to let him out of the particularly pleasant dream he was having about a certain, curly-haired girl. Ron closed his eyes. His dream slowly ebbed from his mind until nothing remained but its memory. The dream was pleasant. She was wearing a pretty, blue-and-white cloak, and she had kissed him passionately on his mouth. Since he began dating Lavender, Ron noticed that his dreams about Hermione had intensified. Whether it was his growing experience in kissing, or his growing desire to kiss her, Ron couldn't seem to pass one night without dreaming of snogging her.

Today was Saturday, about the only day Ron had a chance to sleep in late. Ron slid out of bed around eleven o'clock and decided to put on his favourite socks. Hermione had done more than a great job on them. They were warm and soft, and fit his feet perfectly. Apart from being very red (Ron never had liked that colour much), there was nothing wrong with them.

The common room was packed when he entered it. Most fifth years were revising their homework, as he had been doing each Saturday one year ago too. Ginny greeted him quickly and subsequently delved back behind her books. Harry, Hermione, and Ron normally had their own corner in the common room. It was close to the fireplace and somehow felt secluded from the rest of the room. It was generally accepted as theirs, so when Ron walked into its direction, he noticed that two third-years immediately left 'his' chair.  
_Good, they're starting to learn who's in control around here._

**"WON-WON!"**  
Lavender had noticed him and had started calling him over. When she realized he wasn't coming, she decided to move to him.  
"Why don't you want to sit with my friends and I, Ronny?", she asked.  
"Harry and Hermione might be coming down in a minute or so. I'd already told them I'd sit with them." A slight lie, as usual. He had not spoken to either Harry or Hermione, but Harry normally got up around eleven too. Ron felt it had technically not been a lie. When Harry came down, he'd expect Ron to have reserved him a seat.

Apart from that, Ron also just wanted some peace. He needed to think about everything that was going on in his life. His doubts about being a prefect had grown considerably since last week. While Hermione's words had boosted his confidence for a while, they were now making him afraid to let her down. This feeling had begun when he gave a seventh year Ravenclaw boy a reprimand. He had been cursing a Hufflepuf second year with the leg-locker curse. Ron moved in and told him off immediately. The Ravenclaw didn't respond and merely laughed it off.

Ron noticed Lavender had not yet left. Lavender was rather annoyed by his rejection. She seemed to be looking at his shoes. As usual, Ron's jeans had been rather short, seeing as he had grown another four inches since they were bought. From under them, two flaming socks were visible.  
"Who bought you those socks, Won-Won?" Lavender asked curiously.  
Ron shrugged. "I dunno, I've had these for ages, I've just never worn them before."  
'They look new. That sort of red never stays bright after a few washes.' Lavender looked at Ron in an oddly inquiring way. Ron should have know she'd see through a clothing-related lie. He was about to tell her he hadn't washed them before when Harry entered, giving Ron a perfect opportunity to change the subject.

Breakfast was Ron's favourite moment of the day. Still hungry from sleeping, he would quench his hunger with the great assortment of foods available at Hogwarts. Apart from the usual English breakfast, bacon, eggs, sausages and tomato's, there would also be twenty types of cereal, dozens of juices, ranging from orange and pumpkin juice to strange brown liquids, that smelled good, but tasted horribly. Hermione had told him it was a popular muggle drink that made you more awake.

Today, breakfast was different. When Ron and Harry entered the great hall, they immediately walked over to Hermione (much to lavender's chagrin) and sat down next to her. She certainly seemed to be in a cheerful mood. Her face bore that bemused expression she always had when she had given a correct answer in class, or had hatched some elaborated scheme. She greeted them enthusiastically.  
"Is it me, Crabbe," said a familiar, lanky voice, "or is her hair growing bushier by the minute?"  
Malfoy sneered at Harry and Ron, but most of all, at Hermione. Ron was about to make a retort, when Hermione shot something back first.  
"Hair does that, Malfoy. It grows..."  
Ron chuckled. He loved how Hermione always seemed to be able to keep herself calm in these sorts of situations.  
"Well well," said Malfoy, "Don't they look pretty. Weasel King and his _Mudblood_ Queen."

In retrospect, Malfoy probably shouldn't have said that, and he definitely shouldn't have put such emphasis on the second-to-last word. Ron stood up, towering over Malfoy and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle (he was nearing 6' 4" after all) and pushed him away. Malfoy tripped over his robes and fell over into the Hufflepuf table. When he tried to get back up, Ron was already standing over him, pointing his wand at Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle seemed to hesitate, as their leader had suddenly lost the upper hand.  
"Care to take that last bit back, Malfoy?"  
"Enough of this", spoke a wise voice from a distance. "Both of you will come with me to my office."

Dumbledore's eyes sparkled with that blue sheen that betrayed his true age. While his appearance had been that of a slightly old man, perhaps only sixty years old, Dumbledore had seen and done much more. He has over a hundred and fifty years old, wizened and sharpened in his face by many conversations and spells. His eyes, like those of everyone, betrayed his age best. They were set, shiny and mysterious. The lamps in his office reflected in them as tiny balls of light, making his eyes even more mysterious.  
"Would you care to tell me what happened at the dinner table, mister Weasley?"  
Ron told Dumbledore how Malfoy had insulted him and Hermione. For some reason, Malfoy seemed to be rather quiet. He sat there, gazing at Dumbledore silently during Ron's speech, not even taking his eyes of Dumbledore once.  
"Mister Malfoy, you will not utter such foul words in my school as long as I'm headmaster. You will write three feet of parchment to professor Snape about the origin of non-verbal spells due tomorrow. Mister Weasley. I do not tolerate your behavior on my school either. You will be writing an essay of seven feet to professor Slughorn about the side effects of an overdose of veritaserum."

Ron walked to the library fuming with rage. How on earth could Malfoy be punished less than him? He had used one of the foulest words imaginable to Hermione. Ron merely pushed him away. It wasn't really what a prefect would do, but it was at the very least understandable. He sat down and opened his potions book.  
_Uhgg, now I'll have to spend my free afternoon on an essay_, Ron thought bitterly. _I'd much rather have spent it with Hermione._

Ron had progressed about a foot over the next two hours. Without Hermione's help, it would have amounted in nothing, but fortunately she showed up quite soon afterwards.  
"How was your talk with Dumbledore? Did Malfoy get what he deserved?" she asked tentatively.  
"Actually, Malfoy got less than me. I guess Malfoy got lucky this time," Ron admitted.  
Hermione sat down next to him. Ron noticed she crept up to him to read his essay.  
"He gave you an assignment?" she asked.  
"No, I've just developed a keen interest in Vertaserum." Ron joked. "Could you help me with this? You're so much better at potions than me."  
She moved her chair closer to him. Normally, she would just have asked him to give him his essay, but she seemed to want to sit closely to him. Her right leg brushed up to his, and Ron immediately felt a warm glow (which was very pleasant) against his. Every time she read a bit of the essay, she would lean forward, giving him some time to smell her hair. It smelled lovely, like maple syrup. Ron flushed scarlet immediately and focused on something else.

They spent several hours working on the essay, until around five o'clock.  
"You're only one inch short. I doubt professor Slughorn will notice," Hermione said.  
"Thanks a million, Hermione. I wouldn't have made it this fast without you."  
Hermione turned a right shade of pink in her cheeks and smiled broadly. She kissed him on his forehead and left the library. Some fourth year Gryffindor's started giggling madly at this, but Ron couldn't really care. When he packed his belongings and wanted to leave the library, he noticed a small pice of parchment between a pair of pages in his potions book. He picked it up, noticing it had something written on it in very delicate handwriting.

_"Dear Ron,_

Playing by your strengths, will help you understand.  
If logic is your game, then you'll get to the end.

ifapwgwbwtsoaeaeahmrsssssrotstnpoesatyoonetnretkeiitotteowminion

- Hermione"

Ron spent his entire evening in the dormitory. He kept re-reading the parchment, trying to figure out its exact meaning. Hermione had given this riddle on purpose, probably leaving the note when she kissed his forehead. Ron thought about wat it might be about, and how he should solve the puzzle. He suspected it to be about his socks. She had obviously wanted to say something with them. Perhaps the riddle would solve it.

Ron had been thinking about the note for hours. He had tried re-ordering the letters, trying to find some words in it. That turned out to be impossible though. There had to be hundreds or thousands of combinations. The best he could come up with was: "Finnigan is on my stoop, start to kiss some asses", and half the letters had not yet been used... After the clock chimed two 'o clock, and the last of the fifth years went to bed, Ron decided to go to bed. He was unable to put the riddle out of his head, though. He kept glancing at it, trying to make some sense out of it.  
_I'm horrible at this. Puzzles and Riddles are something Hermione likes, not me._

After a couple of hours of non-stop thinking, Ron decided to get out of bed. He took the parchment with him and went down to the common room. It was deserted, as it should be around 4 o'clock in the morning. He sat down in 'his' chair and pored over the note.  
_Why is it so damn difficult? Riddles aren't my game!_ he thought, looking at the line above the letters.  
_Wait a minute. Blimey Hermione, you're leaving me hints there. **Playing** by your strengths, if logic is your **game**, you're talking about Wizard's chess!_

Ron fetched the common room's wizards chessboard. It was a large board, very dark brown, with small figures around the sides. It had been frequently used, and was subsequently rather damaged. There were small cuts in the board where towers had crumbled and queens had been taken.  
_Now what do I do? I don't think playing a game would make the riddle more sensible. Perhaps there is another link..._  
Ron started counting the letters. There were sixty-four letters in the sentence.  
'Ah, sixty-four, that's 8x8, the dimensions of the board. If I put one letter on each square, I'd be able to fill it out exactly.'

Ron wrote the letters down onto the board. He had hoped they would make sense now, but all he saw was:

ifapwgwb  
wtsoaeae  
ahmrssss  
srotstnp  
oesatyoo  
netnretk  
eiitotte  
owminion

'Great, more nonsense.' Ron started looking for words on the board. He had hardly noticed the first word, when he saw the solution.  
_Reading downwards makes sentances. I should write them down._

'iwasoneofthreeiwasmostimportantiwasstrongestyetuwasnottobespoken'

All that's left to do is to add spaces and align the sentence a little better. Ron started to feel euphoric. He added some spaces and held in his hands the solution to the riddle.

_"I was one of three.  
I was most important  
I was strongest,  
yet I was not to be spoken."_

"Another Riddle!" he exclaimed just a bit too loud. "But this one will have to wait."  
He wrote down the answer on a piece of paper and cleared the board of letters. After making sure nothing was left in the common room, Ron walked to the boys' dormitory and got back in bed. He was asleep before his eyes closed.

Next morning meant Quidditch practice. He was horrible, having slept for only four hours before being woken by Harry. Hermione's second riddle, the solution to the first riddle, was also starting to gnaw on his mind. Ron's lack of concentration gradually became worse. He had nearly fallen from his broom during one of Harry's longer speeches about the importance of scoring from behind the field.

Hermione had decided to watch them train. It was something she often did. He waved at her from the goalposts, while the quaffle zoomed passed his ear into the middle hoop.  
"Ron!" Harry bellowed, "If you're not going to even try today, why don't you just hit the showers immediately?"  
Ron flushed bright red and attempted another save. He nearly caught it this time, if only he hadn't shifted his weight too far to the right and toppled of his broom...

Ron trudged back to the showers at the end of the practice. Hermione had been the witness of several unfortunate accidents involving Ron, ranging from falling off his broom to falling asleep in front of his hoops. She patted him on the back, telling him "it wasn't that bad." He simply trudged on, tired, sleepy and hungry. He had slipped Hermione the answer while she was patting his back.  
_Next time_, he thought, _try to make them a little bit more challenging.._

_o0o_

Hermione stood still on the quidditch field. The Gryffindor team had gone into the changing room and she would have to wait for Ron and Harry to come out again. She fondled the small piece of parchment in her hands with her fingers.  
_Well, Mister Weasley. Just you wait. You'd better not think you're done. I've got loads more where that came from. And this one was the easiest..._

ifapwgwbwtsoaeaeahmrsssssrotstnpoesatyoonetnretkeiitotteowminion 


	3. A Suit of Trouble

_Merlin's beard! Is she _ever _going to say something intelligent?_, Ron thought irritably.  
"So Padma told Parvati, that Pansy told Neville he was...", Lavender continued. She had been talking gossip for only five minutes now, and Ron had already zoned out. He hated gossip. Before Hogwarts, he didn't really have any interest in it. But ever since Harry had been the constant target of gossip and back-talk, he had grown quite irritated by it. Lavender on the other hand loved to discuss the intricacies of other peoples's lives. Sometimes, she would bore him for hours on end without interruptions.  
"Is this story actually leading anywhere?", Ron asked.  
"I've just told you! Pansy called Neville an idiot in front of Padma, who told Parvati. It's just like last time, with..."  
Ron decided to fill his mouth with some food, so he didn't have to respond to anything she said. Lavender promptly responded by talking to her other neighbour. The bacon and eggs were excellent today, and so was the orange juice. He wondered if people in other countries envied the British for their excellent breakfasts.

Deciding to take seconds, Ron lifted his plate up to put some sausages on it. He had only lifted it half a foot when he noticed a small, folded piece of parchment underneath it. It hadn't been there before, he was quite certain of it.  
_One of the house elves must have put it there. I wonder what it says._  
As his plate lifted up further, he noticed the parchment held his name, written in a very pretty, curly and neat handwriting. He immediately pushed the plate back onto it, afraid that Lavender would see it. The remaining pieces of eggs and bacon immediately flew into the air, hitting several people.  
"RON!" Lavender exploded, "Now there's eggs in my hair! Why don't you ever pay any attention, you dumb git?"  
Fuming with rage, Lavender left the great hall, to shower her hair and change her clothes. People were laughing about him, making him feel uncomfortable. He hated it when people called him dumb. It wasn't like he was daft or anything. Sure, he wasn't Hermione, but he wasn't Neville either.

Gently, Ron slid his plate towards him, until the parchment fell out from under it and onto his lap. He put some sausages on his plate (he was still hungry after all) and quickly read it quickly under the table.

_"Ponder over me a while,  
Or have you not the time?  
The thing you want to know  
Is hidden in this rhyme!  
Obvious I might not be,_  
_Not easily to see.  
Somehow you must find me."_

_- Hermione_

_A challenge! I accept_, Ron thought, _and I'll make you realize I'm not as dumb as everyone thinks._  
At that moment, Harry entered the great hall. They had a free period before Defence against the Dark Arts, so they had some time to kill. Harry had only yesterday found out Malfoy had been going to the Room of Requirement. He had been keen to try and enter it during his free period. Hermione had Ancient Runes, and tried to grab a quick breakfast before going to class. Ron eyed her suspiciously. He knew she had given him the parchment, but she had no intention of showing it. She remained her normal self even when telling them Mundungus had been arrested.

After finishing both breakfast and an essay on how the fight Dementors for Snape (it was due in an hour, so he could not go any deeper into the riddle), Ron entered the Defence against the dark arts classroom. He sat down quickly, expecting Harry and Hermione to arrive soon. Hermione entered the classroom just before class started. She sat down next to him, opening her bags and stalling out her book. Harry was late, and his lateness costed Gryffindor ten points.

It wasn't going to be an easy class today, as would soon be apparent. Ron had not been able to resist a snear to Snape, costing Gryffindor another ten points. Snape's retort had been a rather vicious jibe about his inability to apparate.  
The words kept repeating in his head all period long. He hated it that apparation hadn't come as easily as with others. At least he might recieve some positive remarks from Hermione, to ease the wounds a bit. He was mistaken. Lavender caught up with him immediately after class and started ranting about Snape's jibe. Hermione had obviously split the moment she saw her coming.  
_Merlin_, Ron thought, _this is not my day._  
He quickly went into the boys's lavatories to escape her.

As Ron walked back from his last class that afternoon, he felt quite a lot better. The apparation practice would be in Hogsmeade this weekend. Hermione and he would be going together, something he had been looking forward to ever since he had realized it was the best moment to give her the solution to the riddle. He had read it over and over again in history of magic, which was unusually more boring than it normally was.  
_Another little riddle, is it, Hermione?_, Ron thought, _I swear I'll break it before dawn._

He headed to the dormitories to try and find some logic in it. On his way over, he came across a group of second year boys, teasing a first year Hufflepuf. They were pushing him over, causing him to trip on his robes. His backpack tore open at the bottom, causing his books to spill over the ground.  
"Hey, you three!" Ron yelled, "You want to tell me what you're doing?"  
Ron saw three faces turn pale at the sight of him. He was three heads taller than each of them, and infinitely bigger.  
"I'll teach you why teasing isn't allowed here!", Ron bellowed as he repaired the boy's bag with a quick spell, "Each of you bullies will rapport to your heads of house before next period starts."

"Thanks," said the kid, "When I get older, I hope I can do everything with a wand that you can do. Could you help me with my books?"  
"Sure," said Ron, picking up a few books for him. They were Japanese, and written with odd markings.  
"Looks difficult, doesn't it?", said the boy. He told Ron you had to read them downwards, from right to left, but Ron couldn't even make any sense out of it then.

Suddenly, one of the suits of armour began toppling over, heading straight towards them. It crashed down heavily onto them, causing Ron and the kid to be pinned down under it. Ron saw the Hufflepuf boy was wounded and reached for his wand.  
"Whomever did this better not still be around!", Ron threatened, "Teasing someone is one thing, but wounding him is a completely different thing. If I get you, you're in for a world of trouble."  
"I'm sooo scared, Weasle King," Malfoy spat, "I've been dying to teach you a lesson, you filthy blood traitor."  
Malfoy only barely finished his sentence before Ron began sending curses in his direction. After trying a stunning spell, Malfoy made the mistake of shooting the jelly-legs curse. Ron had been expecting it. Malfoy always did the jelly-legs curse in duels, and always left his left side unattended while doing it. He rebounded to the side and fired off a particularly powerful spell, blasting Draco off his feet and into the wall. He fell down, unconscious.

"MISTER WEASLEY," boomed a voice from behind, "NEVER IN MY YEARS AT HOGWARTS DID I EVER SEE SUCH A DISGRACEFUL ACT OF VIOLENCE!"  
Professor McGonagall disarmed Ron immediately. She walked up to him, almost the same colour as his hair.  
"I think a detention will be in order Weasley, a very long detention."  
She revived Malfoy with a flick of her wand.  
"Did he attack you, mister Malfoy?" she asked him urgently.  
"Yes madam," Draco lied, "I was just walking here, when I saw him push that suit of armour onto that boy. I tried to stop him, but he cursed me first."  
"Liar!," Ron bellowed, "You pushed that suit of armour onto me, and now you're pushing the blame on me too!"  
McGonagall shook her head. "One of you is lying. Go to the headmasters office and tell him I sent you. He'll give you both punishments. You'd better hope this boy doesn't suffer any long-term damage."  
She picked the boy up magically and transported him to the hospital wing. Meanwhile Draco and Ron walked to Dumbledore's office in stony silence, knowing one more fight would get them expelled.

Dumbledore had been his usual self: mysterious, eccentric and vague. Draco had been given the benefit of the doubt, seeing as Ron had rendered him unconscious. Grinning with satisfaction, he left the headmasters office quickly. Ron though, would have been given a far more severe punishment. He would not have been allowed to go to Hogsmeade that weekend if McGonagall hadn't informed Dumbledore at the last minute that the Hufflepuf's testimony cleared him from all charges.  
"So Malfoy is going to get punished?" Ron asked hopefully.  
"No," Dumbledore replied, "The boy passed out before the culprit had revealed himself. Based on this evidence, I cannot conclude that mister Malfoy did any of this. And neither should you from now on."

_Damnit!,_ Ron thought, as he walked back to his dormitory, _I can't believe he actually got away with this! I thought there would be enough evidence to get him. He had lied to McGonagall for one thing, and he was at the scene of the crime. He even had a motive in revenge for last time. Bollocks!_  
Hermione and Harry spent all evening trying to cheer him up, but nothing worked. He had failed at being a prefect again, he was still no better at apparating and he still hadn't been able to look further into Hermione's riddle.  
"I'm tired," he said, "I'm going to bed. See you guys later. Good night, Hermione."  
"Good night, Ron."  
Harry noticed this small, yet obvious, hint that they were getting on better terms again. He wasn't the only one. Lavender stood up from her seat by the fire.  
"Aren't you even going to wish _me_ a good night?", she asked irritably.  
"Good night, Lavender," Ron said, trying to sound as bored as he could.

_"Ponder over me a while,  
Or have you not the time?  
The thing you want to know  
Is hidden in this rhyme!  
Obvious I might not be,_  
_Not easily to see._  
_Somehow you must find me."_

Ron sat on his bed, holding the small piece of parchment in his hands.  
"What is it this time, Hermione?" he wondered, "Another thing with numbers? Nah, you did that last time." He looked at the rhyme, trying to get the hints in it to add up.  
_"Somehow you must find me"_, he read, "So I'm looking for something. Probably something that _Is hidden in this rhyme."_

He looked over the lines again and again until his head started to pound. What was he looking for? A word? Some sentence that meant something? The longer he kept looking at the riddle, the more the letters began swimming in front of his eyes, like in the book he picked up for that kid.  
"Bollocks!" he groaned, "How could I have missed something so obvious?" Ron read the first letters of each sentence and quickly noted it down. "Potions". It was so simple, it was brilliant.

Ron quickly went downstairs. The common room was starting to empty out; after all, it was past eleven. Hermione and Harry were still downstairs. Ron noticed that Hermione seemed rather bored. He wondered if Harry had been talking about Malfoy again. As he walked up to them, he noticed Hermione instantly began to smile, and beaconed him over.  
"Done feeling gloomy?" Harry asked.  
After Ron had told them about this afternoon, Harry immediately began questioning him about the room of requirement. (Did he say anything? Did he have something with him? Was he hiding something?) Ron had dismissed it and didn't want to talk about it any more, but Harry seemed renewed in his faith about Malfoy being a Death Eater.  
"Say, Hermione, I suddenly remembered I was meaning to ask you something about _potions_..."  
Hermione's reacted instantly. She sat up straight and looked into his eyes. Their eyes met and a red glow crept upon their cheeks immediately afterwards.  
"So? What did you want to ask?" Harry asked Ron after a short pause, making him feel rather embarrassed.  
"Uhmm," Ron stammered. He hadn't really thought of anything to ask yet.  
"I guess I forgot. Sorry. I'm sure it was about **potions** though."

They were up for a long time, talking and laughing. Harry had left around half passed twelve, leaving Ron and Hermione alone together again.  
"So you figured it out all by yourself, huh?" she asked.  
For a moment, Ron thought that she meant that he couldn't have done it alone. He looked at her oddly. Normally, she never called him dumb (unless they were fighting).  
"No, I didn't mean that you needed help!" Hermione suddenly said, figuring out how he had taken her compliment, "I just meant that I was impressed by the way you solved it so fast."  
Ron looked at her playfully. He loved the way her brown eyes became watery when she was sleepy. But his favourite part on her was her hair. It was bushy, wild and often disarranged, but he thought it made her look cute and sexy. They stared at each other for minutes without talking.

"So when can I expect my next assignment?" Ron asked.  
Hermione smiled mysteriously. "Some day soon. You'll notice when it's time."  
Hermione got up to get to bed. She bent down over Ron and kissed his brow. She wanted to kiss his cheek, but it ended up somewhere between his cheek and his lips. She left the room smiling broadly, leaving a mesmerized Ron behind.


	4. Apperations and Iterations

**a/n: There are a few references and quotes that are nearly identical to those in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling.**  
The original quote is:  
_"She's gone a bit funny. Lost her nerve. Women," he said wisely to Harry, "they're easily upset."_

"So, Hermione..." Ron began hesitantly during their walk to Hogsmeade. They were heading for apparation practice, something which Ron really needed. He had wanted to ask her some questions about "them" for a quite while now, and the long stroll to Hogsmeade was ideal for it. Hermione looked up at Ron, her bushy hair hidden partly under a woollen bonnet. It came out from under it, looking frizzier than ever. It gave her a pretty, girly look, accentuated by a pink woollen scarf, wrapped around her neck. Ron had never been any good at talking about his feelings, and that night in the common room, where he had told her most of his feelings for her, certainly didn't make it any easier. Every time he wanted to talk to her about it, he had chickened out because of the look in her eyes. The look she was currently giving him.  
"...why are you coming with me to Hogsmeade? You hardly need the practice, you've got those three C's nailed."  
"D's," Hermione corrected, "and I thought you might like the moral support. I know you think you can't do it, but you really can. It's all in your head."  
"Are you trying to tell me I can't apparate because I'm mental?" Ron joked. "I should have known earlier. It would have saved me a whole lot of stress and effort."  
Hermione laughed merrily. She seemed to be genuinely enjoying herself in these sorts of private moments with him. Ron sure did.  
"Do you love me?"

Ron had let it slip before he had even realized he had said it. He clasped his hands in front of his mouth, knowing that would not make take the four words back. He looked at Hermione, who had stopped laughing and was looking back at him with a small smile on her face. She said nothing, merely looking into his eyes. Ron got the message. It's odd how much you can actually say without doing any actual talking. Ron looked around. They were walking on the path to Hogsmeade alone. He reached out and grabbed her hand. Their fingers intertwined and in silence, they walked to Hogsmeade.

The apparation practice would take place outside Zonko's. A large group of people were standing outside, waiting to hear where they were supposed to apparate to.  
"I don't see any hoops," Ron said, "Do you think we're supposed to apparate to someplace far away?"  
"No, I think we'll have to apparate to the inside of a shop or house in Hogsmeade."  
Ron and Hermione were still holding hands when they joined the group of people waiting outside Zonko's. They let go quickly when the examiner apparated into their midst.  
"Right you lot, today's assignment is to apparate from here to a shop called Madam Puddifoots Tea Shop. I trust you all know where this shop is located?"  
A brief silence showed that everybody knew where the shop was located. The examiner told everyone to pick a spot for themselves and to concentrate on what they were doing. While he walked around between them, he continued to give pointers and tips to people making mistakes.

Hermione was standing next to Ron and was looking at him with a silent smile. When the examiner turned his back, she crept a little closer to Ron, who was really starting to feel like an idiot.  
"I can't do this, Hermione," Ron whispered, "I haven't even moved an inch by apparation. How am I ever going to get to the other side of Hogsmeade?"  
"Ronald," she whispered in a singsong way, "I'll be waiting for you outside Scrivenshaft's. I won't wait there long, so if you apparate to Madam Puddifoots, you might just make it in time. And trust me, you don't want to miss this."  
And with that, she apparated out, leaving only a scarlet Ron, a swoosh of wind and quiet _plop_.

Ron started to concentrate harder then ever. He tried to drown out any other thought than Hermione. Madam Puddifoots Tea Shop started to swim in front of his eyes. Harry had taken Cho there once. It had been a horrible date, with Cho crying and leaving him stunned at the table. Ron had thought about asking Hermione out and taking her to Madam Puddifoots during their fifth year. After Harry's debacle, he decided he'd rather take her to the Hog's Head than there.  
_Would Hermione be at scriveshafts by now?_ Ron thought. _Maybe she's already waiting._  
Ron tried to force every other thought out of his mind. Madam Puddifoots started to swim in front of his thoughts again. He could see couples of people sitting by the tables, holding hands or kissing each other. Suddenly, the thought of bringing Hermione to Madam Puddifoots didn't seem so bad any more. It would certainly offer some interesting benefits over the Hog's Head.  
_Has Hermione given up on me yet? Is she still waiting for me?_  
Ron's thoughts wandered back to Hermione. He was starting to think about running to her. _Perhaps I could still make it if I run hard enough._

The third time was a charm. Ron closed his mind and tried to focus entirely on the task at hand. He cleared his mind of all things unimportant and thought about where he wanted to be most. Hermione waiting at Scrivenshaft's floated by in his mind.  
_I've got to get there in time,_ Ron thought, _I've just got to..._  
Suddenly he felt a strange feeling in his stomach, slowly spreading over his entire body. He gasped for air as he felt like he was being squeezed through a small tube.

***CRACK***  
"MERLIN'S BEARD RON! You scared the bej... Hang on, you did it! Ron, you finally did it! You've apparated!"  
When the squeezing feeling had left, Ron realized he had apparated exactly in front of Scrivenshafts. He was standing right in front of Hermione, perhaps only an inch away from her. Hermione was getting completely estatic and started hugging him and kissing his cheeks. When they realized what was happening, their reflexes told them to let go. Only, they didn't. Ron felt his lips slowly closing the (currently rather small) gap with Hermione's. For a moment, he was sure it was going to happen. For a moment, he was sure she would allow him to kiss her, sure she wouldn't mind.  
"I'm sorry Ron, but you already have a girlfriend."  
Ron was so close to her, he could have kissed her. She wouldn't have minded. He was sure of it. He only needed to press his lips against hers and it would be done. A fire had awoken in him. A fire that would not be quenched. He could smell Hermione's perfume, her hair, her lipgloss. Everything in him told him he wanted to kiss her, and it took everything to keep him from doing so.

Hermione looked into his eyes and kissed his cheek.  
"That was your reward." Hermione said. "Let's go back to Puddifoots and report you in."  
Ron opened his eyes. Hermione had been so close. He had been so close to her. So close to being with her, not as just a friend, but as her boyfriend.  
"Funny isn't?" Ron said after coming back to earth.  
"What is?" Hermione asked.  
"That I overshot the target and ended up right in front of you." Ron lied, "What would be the chances of me doing that again?"  
Hermione smiled at him suspiciously. She knew that Ron was lying, just as he knew that she knew that he was.

After going to madam Puddifoots, Ron and Hermione decided to go to the Three Broomsticks. Hermione walked in first, the door curtiously held open by Ron. She walked all the way to the back, where she chose a silent corner table to sit at. Ron sat down next to her and looked at Hermione. She had removed the bonnet and scarf, revealing the frizzy hair he had come to love so much. For a while, they merely sat there, looking at each other, not knowing what to say.  
"So, do you think that Harry has gotten into the Room of Requirement yet?" she eventually asked, breaking the (slightly un)comfortable silence.  
"I don't know," Ron said, "but I think he's getting rather obsessed with Malfoy these days. Missing a quidditch match was stretching the lines, but sending house elves to tail him was crossing them. Malfoy might be acting odd, but hasn't he always? I mean, that suit of armour could have done a lot more damage if it had been a bit heavier."  
With the uncomfortable silence broken, Ron and Hermione were having regular old fun again. Dean joined them shortly afterwards, accompanied by a Hufflepuf seventh year that had failed his first exam.  
"One more drink, dears?" Rosmerta asked.  
"Sure Madam Rosmerta," Dean exclaimed, "One last butterbeer for the road."  
Rosmerta laughed and left to get the drinks. Everyone's spirits were high, and several people had been telling jokes. When Ron was about to tell a joke, Rosmerta rejoined them with five butterbeers.

"Go on Ron," Hermione said quickly, "Tell us the joke."  
Ron flushed scarlet. Rosmerta had been a nice fantasy for quite some time now.  
"A hag, a healer and a Mimbulus Mimbletonia were sitting in a train. Suddenly the train passed into a tunnel, and for a minute, all lights went off. When the train exited the tunnel, everyone was covered in green slime. The Hag thinks: _The Healer must've tried to put a spell on me, and must've hit the Mimbulus Mimbletonia_. The Healer thinks: _The hag must've tried to curse me and must've hit the Mimbulus Mimbletonia_. The Mimbulus Mimbletonia thinks: _Next tunnel, I'll squirt at them again!_  
Everyone seemed to think the joke was quite funny, except for Madam Rosmerta, whom seemed to be rather unimpressed.  
"But tree's can't think. I don't think it's funny."

Ron and Hermione waited for everyone to leave, before going back to Hogwarts. When they were sure they were last, they clasped their hands and walked back again. They enjoyed their secret walk so much, that they were completely silent all the way back. Just before they rounded the last corner, Hermione told Ron they had to keep pretending nothing had happened.  
"If you want more of these walks, you'll have to end it with Lavender. You understand why, right?"  
Ron looked at his feet. "I won't let her know how much I've enjoyed myself today. When I end it with her, I won't tell her I've been in love with you all along. No one will know about us until you're ready."  
Hermione walked up to Ron and kissed his neck. Ron froze at the spot, that fire suddenly reawakening. But before he could kiss her back, before he could even manage to say something, Hermione had already stepped away.  
Ron stood there in silence, completely taken aback by Hermione's sudden kiss, and the fire that had awoken in him. Lavender never made him feel like that. Lavender would never be able to make him feel like that.  
"Oh, and Ron?" She said when they resumed walking, "Don't forget to check your pockets tonight."  
When he felt into his pockets, his fingers found a small piece of parchment, left there by Hermione. He made sure it wouldn't fall out of his pocket, thinking he would check it out later that day.

Harry hadn't gotten any further with finding Malfoy. He had spent alll morning trying to open the room of requirement. He had met Tonks on the sixth floor though. Harry told them she was behaving rather badly.  
"She's gone a bit funny. Lost her nerve. Women," he said to Harry while glancing quickly at Hermione, "They're easily upset.'  
For just a moment, Ron and Hermione looked into each others eyes. She had gotten the hint, just like he did.

In the dormitories, Ron finally had a moment to himself to check the parchment in his pocket. It was smaller than the others, yet smelled slightly like Hermione's perfume.  
_Scented riddles.. What will she think of next?_  
When he read the parchment, Ron was amazed once more by Hermione's ability to make riddles. This one was the shortest yet, but (and he knew it) it would probably prove to be the hardest.

_"Of the five everyone has,  
I might be called 'the foremost'"._

- Hermione


	5. Choices

It is a saying that life is nothing more than series of choices, each choice affecting the next. Ron (unlike common assumptions) had often been thinking about life and especially its lovely way of trying to get into his way. He would lay in his bed at night, pondering about where everything was going and where he would end up.  
_My life is a total mess right now.. I can't seem to make any sense of it at all. Hermione and I are closer than we've ever been, but we can't be together. Lavender and I are at completely opposite ends and we ARE together. I've been in Dumbledore's office more than I've ever been in any other year, and I'm supposed to be a prefect._ Ron closed his eyes with a sigh of frustration. _What am I supposed to do? Just break it up with Lavender? Tell her that I've been in love with someone else all along?_

Lavender had asked Ron to be her boyfriend right after his best game of quidditch that year. Ron had been totally blown away by the sudden attention and interest that he hadn't thought about the consequences. _Lavender is pretty,_ he supposed, _but what else is there to our relationship than kissing? She hardly ever says something interesting, and when I want to talk about something, she isn't interested at all._  
Ron hated himself for hurting Hermione. In a moment of confusion, a moment of euphoria, he had said yes to Lavender. He had said something he had come to regret immediately when he saw Hermione's face.

Hermione's riddles kept him busy. They were interesting, fun, and exciting all at the same time. Every moment he had to himself, he would re-read the riddle she had given him after their visit to Hogsmeade. It was short, simple and above all, completely incomprehensible. The small snippet of parchment was safe in his pocket, waiting for the moment Ron would take it out again. That moment would have been now if Harry was ever going to fall asleep. Ron could imagine himself sitting up late (again) reading Hermione's riddle (again). He had been working on it for several days now, but it had proven to be rather difficult. The other riddles had been easier, because they had been longer. Longer riddles mean more hints. This riddle was short. So short, that if your handwriting was cramped, it would fit into a single line. And a single line meant very few hints.

Ron spent his time idly thinking about everything. Harry and Dumbledore had been getting on better terms rapidly. Harry had been going on about their visits for weeks on end, loving the private time between them. He had grown very fond of Dumbledore, seeing him more like a mentor than a headmaster. Dumbledore was obviously enjoying their time too, from what Harry had told him. Still, there was something sad about it. Dumbledore and Harry were most happy, talking about something that might cost them their lives. You-know-who (or Voldemort, as Ron corrected himself) had been growing in power this year, starting his all-out war against the order and the ministry. He might kill Harry sometime in the future. _He might even kill Dumbledore..._

_Stupid me, thinking that I've got troubles. Thinking my life is a mess. I guess its all relative._ Ron felt ashamed. Harry had been in mortal peril for more than a year now. _He has to face the biggest evil this country has ever faced, and I can't even end a relationship that's going nowhere. I've never even told him about me and Hermione._

Ron started feeling ruefully ashamed. _I'll put my life in order this week. I'll break up with Lavender, hook up with Hermione, even if it has to be secret for a while, and I'll stop being a prefect._ Ron had given this last bit a lot of thought. He had failed miserably at being a prefect. He had gotten a first-year into the hospital-wing, made a fool of himself in front of half the school by pushing Malfoy into the table and couldn't even stop that seventh year Ravenclaw from doing the leg-locker curse on a Hufflepuf second year. He decided that he would be walking up to Dumbledore's office and demanding to be relieved from his prefect duties before the end of the week.

Ron fell asleep soon afterwards, never getting the chance to work on the riddle that night, because Harry didn't seem to want to fall asleep. Ron woke up more tired and broken than before he fell asleep. He had dreamt uneasily, dreaming about breaking up with Lavender and her using most of the unforgivable curses on him. Apart from that, this was also one of the few nights Hermione hadn't starred in his dreams, which she now did on an almost regular basis. His dreams had allowed him to re-live their moment in Hogsmeade several times, each time ending interestingly more positive (and not to mention positively more interesting).

He had woken up early, and was thus one of the first to go down to the common room. It was Wednesday, a beautiful and sunny spring morning. The rays of light coming from the windows in the common room were still a bit shaky, like the weather hadn't decided whether it had become spring already, or if it was still winter. Ron decided to walk over to 'his' chair, a nice puffy, soft one, covered in red leather. He had nearly reached it when he tripped over something soft and fluffy. It sniffed his robes, letting out an approving purr.  
"Crookshanks, you've got to start paying attention to where people walk."  
He picked up the ginger cat and placed it on his lap. It seemed to hesitate for a minute, then settled down his lap. "It's odd how your face resembles that of a cat running headfirst into a wall. I guess you're one of the few creatures that can't see its own nose."

He went down for breakfast around eight, knowing Lavender would be coming down from the girls' dormitories anytime soon. Ron was the only Gryffindor sitting at the breakfast table. He had put some sausages and eggs on his plate and began eating them rapidly, hoping beyond hope that Lavender would not be down soon. She came down immediately of course, as all things dreaded tend to do.

She sat down next to him, kissing him ferociously. There was no passion though, no emotion that got spurred in Ron's mind other then a mild embarrassment.  
"How's my Wonny doing today?"  
"Listen Lavender, I want to tell you something."  
"You want to tell me you missed me in Hogsmeade?"  
"No, it's something else," Ron said, slowly feeling his nerves tensioning.  
"Oww, you're so sweet. You want to tell me you love me?"  
"Listen Lavender, please let me ask you something. I have some questions about 'us'."  
"Are you going to ask me to be your wife?" Lavender asked hopefully.  
"Merlin, no! What made you think that?"  
"Why not?"  
Ron thought about how this conversation had suddenly turned against him. "First of all, we haven't even been together all that long, so why would we get married? Second of all, I want to tell you.."  
"..You're as stupid as you are ugly, aren't you?"

For a second, Ron had thought he had just finished his sentence in a completely different way than he had imagined, but it wasn't his voice that made the sneer, it was Ginny's. She was standing in front of Malfoy, pointing her finger at his head.  
"You'd better watch your tongue, miss blood traitor," Malfoy retorted, "or it will be growing off the back of your head instead."  
Ron walked up to Malfoy and Ginny and tried to pull her away from him. She resisted fiercely, shoving Ron aside and taking a swipe at Malfoy.

Dumbledore entered the room at exactly that moment, freezing Malfoy and Ginny seconds before impact.  
"Now, now, miss Weasley," he spoke (with some disappointment in his voice), "That isn't a very nice thing to do to Mister Malfoy. What's the occasion?"  
When he unfroze them, Ginny told Dumbledore that Malfoy had called her a bloodtraitor and a (in Ron's words) scarlet woman. Malfoy naturally dismissed all this, claiming he had done nothing of the sort and Ginny had just lashed out at him without reason.  
"Mister Weasley," Dumbledore asked, "You happened to be here, care to tell me what you've seen?"  
Ron knew by the look on Ginny's face that she had lied. She had been known to start trouble, and she was signaling him from behind Dumbledore's back that he should tell her story.  
"I'm sorry Professor Dumbledore," he admitted honestly, "I really couldn't tell from my position."  
Ginny had been furious with him for hours. He had told her several times that he really couldn't tell Dumbledore, an expert Occlumence, lies about his sister that were that transparent. He still felt he had made a bad decision though. Malfoy had gotten off with hardly a warning, while Ginny had to do lines. More proof, in his eyes, that he sucked at being a good prefect.

Because Ron had been spending every waking moment alone reading and trying to solve Hermione's puzzle, he hardly saw anyone outside classes. Lavender had suggested him to go to Madam Pomfrey's, because he had spent so much time in the dormitories claiming to be sleepy.  
"Wonny, do you want to go to the astronomy tower with me?"  
"Sure, just as long as we don't have to hold hands or anything."  
Lavender seemed rather silent the trip up. She nearly said nothing, apart from the normal, useless gossip she had heard. When they reached the top of the astronomy tower, she put her arms around her.  
"Let's look at the view from the balcony, it's really clear outside, I bet we could see for miles."  
Ron walked up to the balcony with her. He really didn't think it was all that special; the view looked just like it always did. Lavender seemed to disagree, oohing and aahing constantly. Suddenly, she grabbed his arm and shoved her tongue down his mouth.

They kissed for a while, until Lavender started to undo the top buttons of her blouse.  
"Lavender, what are you doing?"  
"Don't say you don't want to touch them. I've seen you looking."

Ron's mind suddenly went into overdrive. He decided that this was one of those moments where you have to make an important choice, affecting your future. Ron had wanted to become more 'experienced' for quite some time now, but he'd rather hoped to become 'experienced' with Hermione. Choosing for the easy way would mean he had a dream come true, but Hermione would of course never accept this behaviour, and would be deeply devestated, shattering several dreams at the same moment.

He had decided to end it with Lavender this week, not make another impulsive mistake. His hands slowly closed the gap between them and stopped Lavender from unbuttoning any more buttons after the third. He quickly buttoned her up and stepped away. It felt good, knowing he had made the right decision for a change.

Lavender seemed rather depressed as they walked down from the astronomy tower. Ron was rather happy inside, though he had the decency not to show it. He had stopped himself from making another impulsive, and ultimately catastrophic, mistake. He had resisted his testosterone-driven urges and wanted to tell Hermione all about it. A tear dropped down from Lavender's nose before they parted ways. It made Ron feel guilty again, knowing he would have to break her heart soon.

Lavender had a pretty nose, nice and round, with small nostrils. Ron had always looked at someone's nose when he looked at someone. It was one of those sub-conscious things you do without realizing it. Lavender had a pretty nose that was nice and round. The bridge held a small scar, barely noticeable but from up close (something Ron had been quite often). She sniffed inaudibly and went off to find Padma Patil, probably to tell her all about his rejection of her.

Suddenly, Ron groped the small parchment in his pocket. The riddle suddenly made sense.

_"Of the five everyone has,  
I might be called 'the foremost'"._

It was so simple, Ron could almost cry out of stupidity. The five senses. And 'the foremost' obviously was the nose. So the answer would probably be 'the sense of smell.' Ron ran down to the library, trying to find Hermione. She wasn't there, so he decided to try her dormitory again.

Ron raced up the stairs in an effort to get there as fast as possible. When he reached the portrait of the fat lady, he spoke the password and was allowed entry, but only after receiving a disapproving look from her.  
"What did I do?" he asked.  
She said nothing and opened up, muttering inside herself as she went along. Ron pounced through the common room and bounded up the stairs of the girls' dormitory. He had almost reached the end when the stairs transformed into a slide and his momentum crashed him head-first onto the stones. Parvati appeared upstairs, eyeing him like he was a filthy bug.  
"She doesn't want to talk to you."  
"Why not?" Ron asked, mending the dump on his head, "I didn't do anything."  
"She's crying her eyes out, you buffoon. Next time, try to be a little gentler with a girl."  
She went back up looking rather annoyed and muttered something along the lines of: "Men.."

Ron sat down in a chair as far away from prying eyes and the stair to the girls' dormitories. He sighed. When Lavender finally came down, she told him that she forgave him, telling him she hadn't realized he was still such a baby. She kissed him rather coolly, hugged him awkwardly, and went back up the girls' dormitories.

An hour later, Hermione walked into the common room. She walked up to Ron noticing the dark red bump on his face.  
"More trouble with malfoy?" she asked.  
"More trouble with Lavender. That girl has seriously lost her marbles," Ron said, quickly adding "I guess she should wake up and _smell_ the roses?"  
His hands probed his pocket, trying to find the small slip of parchment holding the riddle. He could have sworn he had put it back, but he had probably lost it on his way up the girls' dormitories. He put out his wand and said "Accio Hermione's riddle" softly. Soon enough, it came floating down the dormitory stairwell, hopefully unnoticed by anyone. He handed her the piece of parchment, telling her she had really kept him busy this time.  
"This one was hard," he explained, "but I guess that was the idea. I think I'd better go to bed now, because I think tomorrow is going to be a long and troublesome day. Your riddle kept me awake most of the past few nights."

o0o

Hermione beamed at him when he slouched up the stairs wearily. He had solved another riddle, just like she had hoped he would. He might not have known it, but his mood certainly had become better ever since she started giving them to him. He seemed more focused, more like he had a goal. It was pleasant knowing things might get better soon, but for now, she settled with the furtive look he gave her over his shoulder just before he entered his bedroom.


	6. Worth Every Insult

_Middle hoop.. __Middle hoop_... _Middle hoop_... Left Hoop!  
Ron pulled the handle of his broomstick. It immediately gave way, shooting left like a whistle through the sky. He reached out his hands and felt the sides of the quaffle pound against his palm.

"Great save, Ron!" Harry said while searching for the snitch in the growing twilight. They had been practising for an hour now, building up to the upcoming match against Slytherin a few weeks from now. Their team actually seemed to stand a chance. The beaters were really starting to get better, although they weren't up really to the old standards set by the Weasley twins yet. Still, their progress seemed to keep up, solidifying their chances at the house cup this year.

Ron noticed Hermione sitting in the stands close to the goal hoops. She was reading a book (naturally) and seemed only marginally interested in their practice. It was odd, Ron realized, that she would come and read here, if she wasn't really interested in the practice. She looked up at Ron and waved. The angelic smile on her face made Ron forget about everything, but the quaffle that hit him immediately afterwards on his head might have played a part in that too.  
"Ron, if you're not to busy," Ginny yelled, "Would you mind paying some more attention to us?" For a moment, it looked like she wanted to say something else, probably a quick jibe, but she restrained herself and stayed silent. Hermione was looking at her book again, probably revising Arithmancy or reading ahead on History of Magic. He was going to have to talk to her about that soon.

Last year, Ron remembered, he had been completely tensed and nervous for his first match. He had been having nightmares for weeks leading up to his first match. Some people say that nerves go away when you get on stage, or when you start with a match. Ron's did the opposite. He nearly forgot how to use his broom on several occasions. He'd known why too. It wasn't the crowd's cheers or the pressure of needing to win. It wasn't fear for Slytherin or Loser's Lurgey, no, his nerves had failed him because of one person. She was sitting in the crowd, next to Harry when the match began, who had been banned from the game by Umbridge and was forced to watch from the stands. Ron's performance had been horrible. He had let quaffles in even a toddler could (and should) have blocked.

Every time he'd looked sideways, he saw Hermione looking at him expectantly. She wasn't interested at all in quidditch, but she never-the-less came to watch him keep that day. Ron didn't want to look like an utter fool in front of her, and had thus scared himself witless with nerves. Luckily for Gryffindor house, Hargrid chose just that match to tell them about Grawp, causing them to leave. Without the pressure of Hermione's admiring stare, his performance increased greatly. His drive to show the opponents and Hermione his skill in keeping managed to secure Gryffindor house the win. He had naturally never told her this, choosing to act surprised when they told him they hadn't seen him.

Ron quickly shot his hands out. He reached for the middle hoop, which had become exposed during his absent-mindedness and deflected the quaffle enough to overshoot it's target.  
"Ron!" Harry bellowed, "Weren't you just told to keep your mind at the game?"  
"Sorry, It won't happen again."  
Ginny looked at him in a bemused way. She looked like she wanted to say something again and was barely managing to keep it in. She quickly turned her broom around, trying to retake the quaffle, when something tiny and golden fluttered in front of Ron's eyes. It whirred passed his ears and prodded his head playfully.  
_That's strange, I've never seen a snitch act so oddly._  
It was then when Ron noticed that a small piece of parchment was trailing the Golden Snitch. He reached out to grab it, but the snitch jerked back immediately.  
At the same time, Ron noticed Ginny had retrieved the quaffle and was hurtling back at him, getting ready to throw.  
Ron leaned forward on his broom, shot his hands out to the snitch and yanked the parchment off. At the mean time, he slipped off his broom sideways and kicked at the quaffle Ginny had just rocketed off to the left goal hoop. Again, the quaffle changed direction and flew passed the hoop, nearly scraping its sides.  
"Now that, my friends," Harry began, "Is how you become keeper for Gryffindor. Spectacular save, Ron."

Ron quickly got back on his broom and pocketed the parchment. He glanced at the stands, where Hermione had been sitting up to that point. She wasn't there any more. After a quick check, he saw her walking down the stairs with a smile on her face, packing her wand in her robes.

When Ron left the quidditch field, he was bruised and battered, but above all, very excited. He was itching to read Hermione's latest riddle, ready to have a crack at it. While Harry was laughing merrily with Ginny about the Slytherins team, while he kept increasing his pace, walking faster and faster back to Hogwarts.  
"Late for another date with Lavender, huh, Ron?" Ginny said.  
"Uhh, yeah. So I'd better hurry up."  
Ron quickened his pace into a run and stormed up to the common room. When he got through the portrait hole, he noticed Lavender sitting in the corner.  
"Hi Ron," she said, "Are you going to sit next to me?"  
"Sure, I'll just have to take a shower before I do."

Ron had been thinking about his relationship with Lavender. He had been neglecting even the smallest of favours and gallantries. He felt bad for treating her this way, so he had decided to give her some more attention, at least for the time being. He really wanted to read the riddle and solve it, but he couldn't keep pushing her aside. Even though he didn't love her, and wanted to end their relationship, he wouldn't neglect her until he found a suitable way to tell her he wanted out.

When Ron entered the showers, he used his wand to perform the Impervius charm on the parchment, so he could read it under the shower. He checked to see if the curse was working and quickly stepped into the shower. He unfolded the parchment, immediately recognising Hermione's handwriting.

"_1) The amount of uses for Dragon's Blood, as defined by Albus Dumbledore._  
_2) Your fathers age minus your mothers age times your sisters age plus one._  
_3) The amount of galleon's you get for 10846 knuts._  
_4) The third number, minus the second number and the first number plus ten._

_Put these numbers after each other and find out what I do._

- Hermione"

_Bollocks. If it had been short, I might have remembered it. Now I'll have to wait till I get a chance to get on my own._ He tucked the parchment into his trunk and cleaned himself up. When he got downstairs, he sat down next to Lavender, prepared for another hour of complete nonsense and gossip.  
"Hey Ron," Lavender said hoarsly, "I've missed you."  
"Whut? Yeah, I've missed you too, I guess."  
Lavender sat down on his lap and kissed him. It was an exceptionally wet and enthousiastic kiss. She sat down against him, pressing herself against him. Ron closed his eyes, but even then he could not imagine Lavender kissing like Hermione. She was all tongue and no passion. Hermione's kisses might be more delicate, they certainly were more passionate. Lavenders hands slided from his chest to his sides, from his sides to his hips.  
"Whaw awe yuw duwing?" Ron tried to say with her tongue in his mouth.  
"Nothing, just cuddling with my Won Won."  
Ron suddenly realized that she was probing him. Not in the usual, eellike way she normally kissed him, but in a searching way. She was trying to find the riddle! Luckily, Ron had left the riddle safely locked away in his trunk by his bed. He had placed a charm on it, making the lock unpickable and risitant to most spells, just like all boys of sixteen would do on their personal belongings. Only Hermione would have been able to open that trunk, or the teachers of course.

Lavender's hands continued to search his pockets, trying to find a piece of parchment. Ron let her search, knowing she would not find anything incriminating. She slid her hands over his entire body, going from pocket to pocket while kissing him ever more ferociously. In the end, she nearly dragged him off the couch, searching the back of his pants.  
"Wavendew, Whaw awe yew duwing?", Ron said again, trying to act innocent.  
Lavender stopped kissing him. She looked into his eyes and said nothing.

Ron knew what she was doing. She was looking into his eyes to see if it would draw out an emotion. It was working too. Her glassy blue eyes were starting to make him feel guilty. He knew he was hurting her by lying to her, but it was for her own good. She would feel horrible if she knew he had been in love with Hermione all along. Still, he couldn't feel happy about it.

Ron had always seen his father as a role model for a husband. And his father loved his mother deeply, and cared for her in the best way. They might squabble sometimes, they might not always agree, but he treated her with the loving respect Ron had come to accept as obvious. Ron felt that he had to be equal to his father in this loving and caring approach to the woman he loved. Ron would hold the door open, would buy her red roses for her birthday and would hug her everyday before going to sleep. He had always felt like this was natural, a normal way to treat the most special lady in his life.

Lavender stood up.  
"You're hiding something from me."  
"No I'm not."  
"Yes you are," she said with a slow voice, "and I know you are lying. I will find out what it is."  
Ron didn't reply. He knew enough of his fights with Hermione and his parents fights that he didn't need to say anything. She would walk away and glare at him for a while. If he replied, the fight would only intensify. She promptly walked away and indeed glared at him, just like he had predicted.

Ron decided to go some place quiet for a while to think. He would not risk going up to the dormitories to get the riddle, if he'd meet Lavender and she asked to frisk him again, she would find it.  
"Better to let it cool down for a while," he thought, "I'll go and relax."  
Ron stood up and decided to go to the prefect's bathroom. He would have a nice long soak, not the quick scrub he had just given himself. He walked to the fourth floor, and spoke the password to the fourth door. It opened up immediately, allowing him access to the marble-lined room. The mermaid was sitting in her picture, gently combing her hair, while Ron opened the seventh and twenty-third taps on the right side of the tub (vanilla and teak). He had been there quite a lot of times and had found those taps to smell nicest in combination. He slipped out of his clothes and into the water.

For some reason, the water always felt different than at home. It was softer, like wearing a velvet glove, perfectly enclosing your body. It would never make your skin wrinkly, even if you spent hours in it. The bubbles were big and had an alternately yellow and brown sheen. When the popped, they released an aroma so delicate and faint, it made you feel like the scent was actually snuffed out by smelling it. The water was covered with bubbles of varying sizes, some big and heavy, others small and packed. Ron couldn't see through the water any more, so he decided to close the taps. It was a lovely feeling to lie there, feeling the water warming his body. It was in moments like this that Ron could close his eyes and relax a little.

Ron noticed something was wrong when he felt a breath of cold air passing over his face. The door had been opened and was now closing again. Ron reached for his wand, only to realize he had left it in his pants.  
"Funny isn't it? How some people need their wands to be brave..."  
Ron recognised the voice even before he had looked at his clothes. They were lying in a heap on the floor, and a blonde figure was standing over them. The figure straightened and looked at him with a victorious smile on his face.  
"Weasle king, you know better than this. With Ollivander gone, you have to keep your wand safe. If it happens to break, you would never be able to buy a good one. Not that your parents could ever afford one," Malfoy said while toying with Ron's wand in his hand, "Unless they sold that ugly sister of yours, she might fetch a galleon or two."  
Ron immediately realized the desperation of the situation he was in. Malfoy could snap his wand in two, leaving him wandless, and above all, alone with him. He would be able to curse him with anything without anybody knowing about it.

Draco put the wand upright on the ground and placed his foot over it. If he put it down hard enough, his wand would be destroyed.  
"I'm going to enjoy this. Do you think it will give that nice, crunchy sound?"  
Ron had to do something. In their first year, they had been told that if a wizard is strong enough, he could do spells without a wand. The effects would be less powerful, but it was worth trying. Ron closed his eyes and concentrated. He reached out for his wand under water and tried to retrieve it.  
"ACCIO WAND!" he bellowed, just as Malfoy's foot shot down. For a moment, he thought it had gone wrong. Malfoy's foot pounded the ground, but he had heard no sounds of snapping wood, no crunchy sound of a splintering wand. Moments later, he felt his fingers closing around his wand, completely unscathed.  
"EXPELLIARMUS!"  
Suddenly, the roles had changed. Ron was holding his own wand, and Malfoy's, who was looking at him in a bewildered way.  
"How did you get it without a wand?" he asked furiously, "It's not possible."  
"It is, as you can see for yourself."  
Ron played with the wand in his hands. He could snap it in half right now, and Malfoy would not be able to do a thing about it. Malfoy seemed to realize this at the same time, by the look on his face. He gazed in horror as Ron's fingers closed around it's base.

"It's funny indeed, how some people need their wands to be brave..."  
For a moment, Ron actually thought about doing it. Draco had insulted them on so many occasions, cursed them on so many days, it felt like an injustice not to break it. But Ron's conscience remembered him of his own moral standards. It was a low thing to do, breaking a wizard's wand, and Ron wasn't about to lower himself to Draco's standards. Threatening to do so was a wholly different thing though. He bent Malfoy's wand slowly, until it started to strain under the pressure. Malfoy went pale, his eyes bulging as his wand bent in Ron's hands. Ron let it go on one side, causing the wand to shoot out of his fingers. It flew into the bath in a pretty arc and a soft "plop", then slowly sank to the bottom.

Malfoy looked puzzled. Ron closed his fingers around a big golden lever next to him.  
"The itsy, bitsy spider, climbed up the water spout," Ron said in a singsong voice.  
Ron pulled the lever, opening the bath plug next to the wand.  
"Down came the rain, and washed the spider out."  
The underwater currents started to pull at Ron's feet. Draco's wand got caught in one of the currents and it promptly shot down into the pipes. Malfoy ran out of the room angrily, hoping to retrieve his wand.  
"Ask the giant squid if he has seen it lately!" Ron shouted after him merrily.  
"That was worth every curse and insult over the last few years."

Ron stepped out of the bath and wrapped a towel around himself. When he was sufficiently dry, he put his clothes back on and headed back up to the dormitories. It was about nine o'clock, so it would probably be packed by now. Ron climbed through the portraithole and looked around for anyone interesting. Lavender was sitting by the fire, talking animatedly with Padma. She waved at him nonchalantly, Ron returning it half-heartedly. Hermione wasn't there. She spent a lot of time in the libraries these days, trying to help Harry find a way to convince Slughorn go give him the memory. Ron walked up the stairs to the dormitory. Perhaps he could risk taking another quick look at Hermione's riddle.

Before Ron had realized, he'd spent ten minutes on his bed, trying to find out how old his parents were. The first part was easy, he'd read enough chocolate frog cards to know that number was twelve. After making a quick calculation, he'd found out that 10846 knuts was twenty-two Galleons.

Suddenly, he realized that he didn't need to know the age of his parents, because he knew his father was one year older than is mother.  
"So it's one times my sisters age plus one. That's fifteen!", Ron thought correctly.  
"So the numbers are 12, 15, 22, and (after another quick sum) 5. That went easily enough."

The last line of the riddle proved to be the hardest: "Put these numbers after each other and find out what I do." Ron tried to think of anything that would combine these numbers into something sensible, yet for a long time, he could not think of anything. He tried calculating the differences, adding them together, he even looked up the 5th of December 1522 in Neville's History of Magic books. Then, Ron tried to think of the numbers in combination with the other solutions.

This had been bothering him for quite some time now. Every riddle was solved with a strange answer. The first answer was a small riddle about something that hadn't been said. The second answer was "Potions". The third was "the sense of smell, or smelling" and now this. The numbers didn't make sense. There were three answers, and four numbers. All the other answers had been words, so it would only make sense if this answer was another word or sentence.

Suddenly it dawned to him. The numbers represented letters. One was A, two was B, etcetera.  
Ron quickly picked up a piece of parchment and wrote down the alphabet. He counted the letters and circled those who's number was in the answer. From left to right, he read, "ELOV", but in the order of the riddle, it was LOVE. He had found the answer!

_So the answer to the fourth riddle is "Love",_ Ron thought, _but what do all the answers mean together? And what does this have to do with the imprint on my socks?_

Ron locked the riddle and the answers in his trunk and laid himself down on his bed. It had been a good day. Tomorrow, he would tell Hermione the answer, end his relationship with Lavender and give up his prefect duty. He fell asleep, rereading the answers in his mind. _Love, Potions, The Burrow, Sense of Smell, never spoken, love, potions, burrow, smell, never spoken, love, potions..._


	7. Tests, Riddles, and Potions

"Kiss me Ron," Hermione said, "I've been waiting for your kiss for far too long!"  
Hermione closed the gap between him and her. She lunged out and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her hands found their way into his hair, getting a firm grip on them. They were standing on the edge of a lake, in the middle of the summer. The rays of the warm, brooding sun had fallen over them like a muffling blanket. Ron's body was covered in sweat; both his and Hermione's. She was looking into his eyes with a long, tender stare. Her slender physique and pretty chocolate eyes made his knees feel wobbly and his head feel light. She drew closer, nearly close enough for contact, their first kiss. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips against hers. Her lips parted and she ferociously kissed him, in a wet and enthusiastic way. When he opened his eyes, he noticed her hair was blonde and straight, and her nose had a small scar on it. He pushed her away from him, not understanding how Hermione had changed into Lavender.  
"You're hiding something from me Ron," she said, "and I'll get to the bottom of it."

Ron woke up silently, still vaguely confused with Hermione transforming into Lavender. He was about to sit up straight when he suddenly heard a familiar voice beside him.  
"Just you wait, after I've gone through your belongings, you won't be able to deny it. Wait till I have proof."  
Lavender was sitting next to his bed, rummaging with his trunk. He heard her fingering the padlock, locked by the colloportus charm, which only allowed the padlock to be opened by Ron.  
"Really Ron, you could at least try to be a good boyfriend," she mumbled, "Couldn't you just pay more attention to me? You act as if I'm some horrible person, completely unlike _another_ girl."  
Lavender took her wand out of her pyjamas and tried to open the lock. Nothing seemed to work. Even the alohamora and dissendium charms didn't work on it. She even tried pulling it hard and searched for a key under his bed.  
"Bollocks, it's closed. Looks like you've got something big to hide," she said angrily, "But I'll find out what it is before the end! I thought you were cute, brave and tender, but you're nothing what I expected."

She walked back to the door, pausing momentarily to look over her shoulder.  
"Perhaps," she said, "I should just dump you, you worthless boyfriend."  
Minutes passed before Ron moved, not because he was afraid to be heard, but because of what she had said. Ron had never expected her to be so disappointed in him. Her words had already begun to gnaw their way down from his ears to his heart. Ron felt like he was the most horrible, insensitive person around. How could he ever have thought that he was anything remotely like his father, if his first girlfriend already complained about him?  
_If Lavender thinks I'm not good as a boyfriend, what would Hermione think of me? Does she think I'm bad boyfriend material? Bollocks! I guess I'm bad at everything, quidditch, school, prefect duty and above all, love._

The next morning was a subdued one. It was Saturday, and today would be the day he would have his apparation exam. Hermione and he would be walking to Hogsmeade together. This made him feel slightly better. He met up with her after breakfast, to pick up the Ministry's pamphlet about common apparation mistakes from a classroom near the Hufflepuf common room. His mood hadn't improved much, as Lavender seemed to ignore him completely when he walked by.  
"Hermione," he asked as they walked to the classroom, "Do you think I'm a bad boyfriend?"  
Hermione gave a short laugh, but refrained herself from laughing further.  
"I don't think I'm the person to ask really. Go ask Lavender."  
"I heard her this night, she told me I was horrible at being a boyfriend."  
Hermione looked appalled, "Why did she say such a thing?"  
"She didn't know I was awake. She crept into our dormitories, trying to open my trunk."  
"Listen Ron, " she said with a certain graininess in her voice, which made it sound unsure and uncomfortable. "You're a lovely guy. You really are, and Lavender doesn't know what she's talking about. She only thinks of you as 'Gryffindor's popular quidditch keeper'. She only likes you because you are popular. If you want my opinion, I think you're swell, and you'll be a great boyfriend for _someone_ who loves you for who you are...!"

Ron's mood instantly did an about face. Hermione had said she thought he was "swell"! Her words kept repeating in his head, making him feel euphoric. He smiled at her broadly as he lifted her off her feet.  
"Ron, what are you doing? Put me down!" Hermione asked as he rotated on the spot several times. He laughed, and she laughed with him. After he had put her down, she straightened her hair a little (for as far as that was possible) and walked off with him to the classroom. To outsiders, they might have looked like a young couple in love. To Padma Patil, they certainly did. She instantly turned around and walked up to the Fat Lady's portrait.

After picking up the pamphlet and eating lunch, Ron and Hermione met up with Harry and went outside for the first day of spring. The air was nice and blue, reflecting off the giant squid's lake as though it was a freshly painted picture. Small white puffs of clouds passed through it like sheep in a sapphire meadow. Ron and Hermione were reading the ministry's pamphlet carefully:

**INCOMPLETE CONCENTRATION RESULTS IN INCOMPLETE RESULTS!  
If you feel you can't concentrate enough to apparate, ask for assistance. Recent study has shown that seventy-five percent of all apparation-related injuries were caused by unconcentrated witches and wizards. Common injuries related to unconcentrated effort are: Splinching, apparation into solid objects, falling hundreds of meters from the sky, being buried hundreds of meters under the ground and dehydration.**

"I'm not sure whether apparation is my preferred mode of transportation" Ron said uneasily.  
"I'm more interested into what the other twenty-five percent were caused by," Hermione said, making Ron feel even more uneasily, "It's often the things people 'forget' to mention that are most important."  
Ron reread the message and gulped.  
"I'm going to try and 'forget' you've ever said that."  
Harry chuckled and took out the Marauders map. After the lines started forming on it, and the small, labelled dots appeared in the freshly drawn corridors, Harry gave a short snort.  
"He's back in there again. I can see Crabbe standing guard in front of the statue of Boris the Bewildered."  
Hermione rolled her eyes up behind Harry's back. "Perhaps," she said, "you should spend more time at getting Slughorn's memory?"  
Harry closed the marauders map and put it back into his bag. "I know, I know, don't start with me again."

**NEVER APPARATE IF YOU HAVE TRUFFLES OR SILVER THIMBLES WITH YOU!  
There have been several reports of wizards and witches apparating to the moon instead of their intended destinations. For hitherto unknown reasons, apparation with certain objects cause this very unusual side effect. Recent study has proven that truffles and silver thimbles are among the objects that cause this erratic behaviour. If you are apparating and find yourself on the moon, try to contact one of our officials immediately. Deliberate apparation to the moon to collect moonstones is prohibited, offenders WILL be dealt with accordingly.**

"Fancy a trip to the moon Hermione?", Ron joked.  
"I heard it's actually quite boring there. Microgravity is fun for a while, but impossible to play exploding snap in."  
"I guess there's no problem as long as you don't take truffles or thimbles with you," Ron said merrily.  
"They are among items causing erratic behaviour. So there are more, unidentified objects..."  
"I'm pretending I never heard that, Hermione..."

Harry was gazing over the field, at the direction of some girls walking in the direction of the Whomping Willow. One of them had long, red hair, flowing behind her gently as she walked.  
"Thinking about ways to get into the Room of Requirement again?" Hermione asked.  
Harry seemed to snap out of some deep thought process and mumbled something inaudible. Hermione told Harry firmly to forget about Malfoy. Soon afterwards, a girl came up to Harry and gave him Hagrid's note, asking them to come to Aragog's funeral. Reading Hargid's note, Ron became acutely aware of the several very important things he had to do that evening.

"Fifty-seventh time lucky, you think?" Harry said bitterly, after Hermione had suggested softening up Slughorn during potions. Ron thought about this. Only sheer dumb luck could help Harry get that memory. Hermione might still have thought that Slughorn would give the memory up out of friendship, but Ron never doubted the fact that Slughorn was too stubborn. Harry would need all the luck he could get.

"Lucky," Ron said, "Harry, that's it. Get lucky!"  
Hermione looked at him in surprise. "Why didn't I think of it?"  
Harry seemed to be rather reluctant. He appeared to have been saving the potion for something else. After Harry becoming absent-minded again (something that happened quite often these days), they decided to use the potion that evening.  
Ron looked at Hermione. She seemed to be thrilled about the idea of using Felix Felicis to get the memory. When she looked at him, he could see the marvel in her eyes. She winked at him, hinting him how smart she thought he was. After this, Ron's humour rocketed up faster than Harry's firebolt would ever be able to take him.

It plummeted at about the same speed when the bell tolled. Their exam would be starting soon, and Ron wasn't feeling too sure about his abilities as an apparater.  
"You'll do fine" Harry said, when they walked to the entrance hall.  
_At least I will be able to enjoy another Hogsmeade visit with Hermione,_ Ron thought, _whether I pass the exam or not._

The trip to Hogsmeade went by like a whirlwind of emotions and felt oddly hastened to Ron. It felt like time had decided to speed up so the test would be arriving sooner. In no-time, Ron was standing in a queue, waiting to apparate into the hoop fifty yards in the distance. Everyone was lined up in alphabetical order. When it was time for "Granger, Hermione", Ron noticed she looked back at him. She quickly pointed at her head then her chest. Then, she closed her eyes and with a soft "plop", she disapparated.  
_Odd time to be pointing out she is a girl, really.._  
The line became increasingly shorter as names kept getting called. After "Verney, Jacob", the seventh year that failed last exam apperated into the hoop, it was time for "Weasley, Ronald".  
Ron stepped forward, closed his eyes and tried to apperate. It wasn't going very well, until he realized what Hermione had meant with her pointing at herself.  
He imagined Hermione, standing in front of the hoop. Her bushy hair flowing in the wind, her arms outstretched, waiting for him to hug her. Ron felt quite guilty, knowing he was supposed to have those thoughts for Lavender. Ron felt that odd, squeezing feeling in his stomach, just before his body would be disapperated. Ron's thoughts strayed for just a second to Lavender, causing a tiny ripple in his concentration.

When Ron reappeared, the examiner gave him a long look. Suddenly, his eyes strayed to Ron's eyebrows.  
"I'm sorry son, you left something behind. I can't let you pass."  
Hermione walked up to Ron and the examiner.  
"That's being rather strict," she said angrily, "Can't you make an exception? It's only half an eyebrow!"  
"And half an eyebrow," the examiner said, "is about thirty hairs too much. I don't make exceptions."  
"That's codswallop, and you know it!" Hermione retorted furiously, "A simple thing like a breath of wind can distract even the most skilled wizard."  
"Hermione," Ron said calmly, "Relax. The examiner is right. You either pass, or you don't. Perhaps next time, I will apparate and lose a limb. I don't plan on using apparation anytime soon anyway."

Ron and Hermione walked back to Hogwarts in a subdued mood. Hermione kept telling him how much she felt like the examiner was too harsh. "Next time, you will do brilliantly." Ron looked at her. It was so sweet of her to keep trying to cheer him up, even though she must have been very excited about passing.  
"Hermione," Ron said, "Thanks for being there for me."  
"Well, I guess that's what _you-know-whats_ are for."  
"You-know-whats?" Ron asked, "You mean licenced apparators?"  
Hermione flushed red immediately. "Congrats, Hermione. You _are_ the best of our year."  
Hermione opened her cloak and picked a small piece of parchment from it.  
"I wanted to give you this when you passed the test, but I guess now is just as good."  
Ron received another riddle, moderately sized and written in loopy letters.  
"This is one of the last ones, Ron, " she said, "You don't have much time left to break it off with Lavender.

It was well after nine when Ron found himself in a situation that was getting ridiculously out of hand. Harry had just swallowed Felix Felicis and had decided to go to Hagrid's cabin of all places. For some unimaginable reason, he thought that was 'the place to be' at that moment. Perhaps Felix Felicis was whispering to him what to do, or where to go, but it certainly didn't make things any more understandable. Harry was walking down the stairs under his cloak while Ron exchanged nervous glances with Hermione. Suddenly, Lavender started shrieking "What were you doing up there with her?!" at the top of her lungs.  
Hermione immediately parted from him, walking to the stairs of the girls's dormitories.

Before Ron had any time to react, Ginny and Dean were getting fired up. She was telling him off for something, but Ron couldn't hear what was going on, because Lavender had just called Hermione something very rude and insulting, starting with an 'S'. And it wasn't the word _scarlet_ either..  
"Hey! Don't call my best friend that!" Ron said angrily, "You have no right to call her that!"  
Lavender exploded. "HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT! YOU'VE BEEN SNOGGING HER UPSTAIRS, HAVEN'T YOU?"  
"No, I HAVEN'T," Ron said, steadily getting angrier, "and since you have NOTHING to base your SUSPICIONS on, I would very much LIKE you to keep her out of OUR problems!"  
"Really, nothing? Not even a riddle that fell out of YOUR pocket, signed by Hermione, which suddenly misplaced itself? Not even Padma, seeing you twirling around like a couple of love-birds? Not even Dean telling me some people saw you in Hogsmeade last weekend, holding hands?"  
"NO!" Ron defended, "SHE'S JUST A FRIEND TO ME! THAT I LIKE SPENDING TIME WITH HER DOESN'T MEAN I KISS HER INSTEAD OF MY GIRLFRIEND!"  
Ginny and Dean were really getting fired up at the same time. Ginny was really starting to get irritated, which mostly meant her getting beyond angry. Dean was bellowing at her that he didn't help her up the portrait hole, but this only seemed to agitate her more.

The common room seemed relatively small all of a sudden. People were staring at the two couples with big eyes, everyone keeping quiet and trying to blend into their surroundings. Some of them were looking left and right as if they were observing some bizarre tennis match. One of the towers on the board of wizard's chess took the opportunity to sneak off to the left undetected, causing him to stay out of danger's way, but leaving his queen exposed.

"Let's go outside for a while, Lavender," Ron said in one of the few moments that Ginny and Dean weren't yelling, "You and I need to talk."  
They walked to the prefect's bathroom, and after letting Lavender and himself in, he looked into her eyes.  
"I don't think our relationship is going to last very long. We don't belong together."  
Lavender suddenly exploded. "HOW DARE YOU MAKE UP MORE LIES! I KNOW YOU ARE IN LOVE WITH HERMIONE! DON'T YOU SAY YOU'RE NOT!"  
Ron shrugged. "Yes, I am! I am in love with Hermione, and I've been in love with her for well over a year now. But I never kissed her while I was with you."  
"Oh, how gallant of you. You are _so_ noble. Do you expect me to feel happy now?"  
"Of course not! I never should have been dating with you, if I have been in love with another all along."  
Lavender broke out in tears. "So you never loved me?"  
_Oops, that must've come out completely wrong._  
"Lavender, you are a very pretty and interesting girl. You'll find someone to love you."  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'FIND SOMEONE'? I'VE GOT YOU."  
"Lavender, think about it. We're through..."  
"YOU DON'T GET TO DITCH ME YOU BASTARD! I'M DITCHING YOU. YOU'VE NEVER BEEN ANY GOOD AS A BOYFRIEND, YOU WORTHLESS.. WORTHLESS.. KISSER!"

_Well, that went smoothly!_, Ron thought after Lavender had left. She had been screaming and cursing at him for nearly fifteen minutes before she ran out, crying madly. He had been sitting there for half an hour, thinking about all the things she had called him. Words like 'loser', 'thick-headed', 'idiot', 'tongue-clamp' and especially 'side-kick' had really gotten to him. Ron was looking at the drain in the middle of the bath. He remembered his encounter with Malfoy and for a moment, he smiled. It felt good knowing he could save his own hide when he needed to.

The door to the bathroom opened and pretty, red-headed girl entered the room. She sighed deeply as she sat down next to him. For a while, neither of them spoke, until Ginny said "Good choice in getting rid of the blonde. There's better fish in the sea."  
Ron chuckled.  
"Good thing you dumped that black-haired boy. He wasn't good enough for you."  
Ginny smiled. "So the Weasley family had a rough day huh? Odd how these things coincide."  
Ron had given this some thought. Harry had taken the potion and not even half an hour later, his relationship with Lavender had ended, leaving the way open for another relationship with Hermione. Perhaps the Felix Felicis had rubbed off on them, or, perhaps it was working its mojo on them because Harry had wanted it to. But Ginny's relationship had gone down the drain even faster, leading the way for her to have another relationship with someone else.  
_Perhaps Harry is keeping his feelings for Ginny secret, just like I do with my feelings for Hermione._

"So did you?" Ginny asked after a few minutes of silence.  
"Did I what?"  
"Did you kiss her?"  
"Who?"  
"Hermione!"  
"No! I'm not the kind of guy that kisses girls while he has a girlfriend." Ron said dramatically.  
"She didn't want to, did she?" Ginny said with a wide grin.  
Ron decided not to look at her.  
"It's about time you two hooked up. Fred and George are placing bets on when you're going to pop the question."  
Ron laughed. That sounded like something they'd do.  
Ginny hugged her brother. "I guess things are going to work out for you two."

Ginny left minutes later, slightly in a better mood. She really seemed to like the idea of Hermione and him together. When she walked away, she seemed to be rejuvenated, like new opportunities were waiting to be taken. Ron closed the door and filled up the bath. _Time to relax,_ he thought, _Hermione will probably be sitting in the girls's dormitories anyway. Besides, it would be rather harsh of me to start seeing Hermione within hours of ending it with Lavender._  
The bath filled up very fast, and because Ron had used his favourite taps, the water looked yellow and brown, all of its surface covered in bubbles. He slipped in quickly, keeping his robes and especially his wand close.  
For nearly an hour, Ron thought about himself. Was he really a 'loser'? Was he really just a 'side-kick'? Sure, Harry had saved the day on numerous occasions, and he had never really been of real importance. He had never seen Voldemort, never fought the dementors, or duelled with Death Eaters. Harry had always been the one to be brave and strong, all he had ever done was being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

This unhappy (and rather unfair) mood lasted for quite some time, until the door opened again. Ron reached for his wand immediately, but when he saw who had entered, he decided to reach for his trunks instead. Hermione was standing in the doorway, looking slightly bewildered and confused. She walked up to Ron, who was worming his way into his now soaking wet pants, while keeping his head above water. Hermione sat down next to him, dipping her feet in the water after taking off her shoes.  
"How was it?" she asked.  
"Let's just say it was better than was to be expected."  
"Did she blame me?"  
"Initially, but I took the blame. I should never have started something with her while I was in love with you. She had a point when she said I shouldn't have lied to her about it."  
"So what comes next?"  
"Us."  
"When?"  
"Now?"  
"No Ron, that's too fast. We've got to let the dust settle."  
"So when?"  
"Soon, if you can find the answer to the riddle I've given you."

Hermione took her feet out of the water and stood up, ready to depart. Ron wasn't going to let her off that easily. He jumped out of the water, reached out and pulled hard. Hermione, caught unaware, fell into the water with a loud yell. When she resurfaced, she coughed some water out of her lungs and looked at Ron destructively. Ron merely smiled.

"Relax Hermione, I'm sure you'll be able to dry yourself completely the moment you get out of the water."  
Hermione swam slowly towards Ron. Ron could feel the tension in the water rising, as she came closer to him. Her soaking hair was filled with bubbles and even though it was wet, it still looked bushy. _Merlin, even now she looks gorgeous._  
She swam up to him so close that her body was touching his. Ron blessed himself for putting on his trunks, without which he would probably have been very ashamed.  
Hermione closed her eyes and pouted her lips. Ron did the same. He had waited for this moment all year long. Finally, he would kiss her.

A big wave crashed over Ron's face. He promptly breathed in what seemed like half a gallon of water. After coughing for a while, he looked at Hermione, who was wearing a big smirk on her face. "That," she said bossily, "was for pulling me into the water."  
Then, she lunged forward; stealing what little breath was left in Ron's lungs by kissing him passionately.  
"And that," she said tenderly, "was for breaking up with Lavender."  
Ron quickly reeled Hermione in for a second kiss. His hands slid up over her back to her neck and into her hair. It felt perfect, kissing her. He had learned a lot from Lavender, but what he had learned to be most important was kissing slowly, gingerly, yet firm. Hermione felt like putty in his hands, her tongue trying to find its way around his own.  
When they parted lips, Hermione got out of the bath and with a quick flick of her wand dried herself and her clothes.  
"I told you so..." Ron said playfully.  
"Ron," Hermione said earnestly, "we can't act like two love-birds tomorrow. Even though every part of me wants to be with you, it would not be fair of us to start off tomorrow."  
Ron smiled. "I know, but at least let me stay under the illusion that we can."  
Hermione walked away slowly. She opened the door, but before she left, she looked at Ron. "Oh, and Ron?" she said, "For your information: You are the best kisser ever!"

Ron got out of the bath minutes later. He put his clothes on and dried his pants with the impervius charm. Then, he picked the riddle out of a pocket in his robe. When he read it, he was instantly intrigued:

_"Inside of me, is the strongest of its kind. Wars have been fought over me, which is ironic. What am I?_

_- Hermione"_


	8. Revelations

"Professor Dumbledore," Ron said hoarsely, "Could I have a word with you?"  
Dumbledore seemed rather taken aback by Ron's visit.  
"Certainly, Mister Weasley, though I dare say I did not expect you here today. To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

Ron stood still in the doorway. Dumbledore was standing in front of his fireplace, his silhouette outlined by the illumination from the fire. The fireplace was filled with an adamantine sheen. It's brownish flames were dancing happily around the ashes of several burnt down logs. Dumbledore looked at him in a curious way: penetrating, yet soft. Without saying a word, he motioned Ron towards him, turning back around to the fire. Together, they watched the fire dance around the fireplace. It slowly moved about the flames, like a ballerina on a theatre's floor.

"Professor, I've been thinking."  
"Good," Dumbledore said, "That is what you're here for. Sadly, many of the students seem to disagree."  
Ron ignored this joke. "It's about me being a prefect. I'd like to stop being one."  
Dumbledore's expression didn't change much, as Ron had feared. Apparently, it was no surprise to the old headmaster. Ron saw this as another sign of his inabilities as a prefect. If the headmaster wasn't surprised by his resignation, then he had probably been expecting it. Perhaps Harry could fill up his prefect-duty. He was better qualified after all.

Ron had been thinking about quitting for a long time. His breaking with Lavender had only confirmed his suspicions of being a horrible prefect. She had called him 'a lousy excuse for a prefect' and 'a good-for-nothing loser'. Ron's already waning trust in his abilities as a prefect had all but disappeared. After kissing Hermione just hours ago, Ron had been up all night, thinking about what to do. He had decided a while ago to end it with Lavender, stop being a prefect, and start seeing Hermione.

The first of these had already been done, the second was being done right now. He didn't want to waste any more time. He had waited to tell Hermione he loved her for years, wasting more and more time they could have been spending together. Ron had decided it had to end. He had to stop postponing things and take action. His feet had taken him directly to the Headmaster's office, in stead of to the Gryffindor dormitories.

"May I ask why you would wish to do so?"  
Ron looked into the sapphire eyes of Dumbledore.  
"You may."  
Dumbledore chuckled.  
"Why would you wish to do so?" Dumbledore asked.  
"These last few weeks really say enough, don't they? I've been in detention several times, I couldn't even help that poor Hufflepuf kid. I'm not the man for the job, you know that too."  
Dumbledore looked at him with an odd smile. _Perhaps he even pities me.._  
This thought caused something to break in Ron. His suppressed feelings started to flood his mind. His feeling of injustice towards Malfoy, his irritation about the way Dumbledore kept letting him off the hook, even his breaking with Lavender came up. It wasn't long afterwards that Ron was looking at the fire again, feeling rather ashamed of himself. Dumbledore had been silent throughout his ordeal, merely nodding along with him.

"Mister Weasley, As headmaster I am inclined to take your resignation seriously. Being a prefect is a noble duty towards this school, and thus, a resignation from this must be treated with proper respect and seriousness. From what I've heard, I realize you have given this quite a lot of thought, and you have come to the conclusion that you do not wish to part-take in prefect duty again."  
Ron closed his eyes. Any second now, he was going to be rid of his prefect status. Being a prefect had been nice at first, and he was going to miss using the prefects' bathroom, but he just wasn't cut out for it. Hermione, Harry, even Draco were more suitable candidates, with a charisma and authorativness that was needed for the job. He was just a mistake, a failure at being a prefect. A side-kick.  
"Unfortunately, I am inclined to acquiesce your request."  
Ron opened his eyes. _What does he mean? He can't deny me quitting it... Can he?_  
Dumbledore looked at him and smiled.  
"Defending a close friend when she is called one of the foulest words known to wizards is not something any person would do. You knew full well the consequences of your actions, yet you stood up for miss Granger anyhow. Standing up for others is a trait I value very highly in people. It is a trait I've heard you performed again for Ching Ho."  
Ron looked at Dumbledore questioningly. "Who's Ching Ho?"  
"Ching is in Hufflepuf, a first year if my memory hasn't completely abandoned me yet. His words of praise were very uplifting to me. Again, you demonstrated the courage and empathy I value so highly in you. You punished his bullies justly and defended him from an assailant."  
Dumbledore bent down slightly and sat down in his chair. Ron felt the warmth of the fire passing over him, like a soft blanket blowing over him. Somehow, Dumbledore had just made him feel good about his abilities as a prefect. But surely he would agree that others were better suitable?  
"But what really impressed me, mister Weasley," Dumbledore said, "What truly made me realize that you _are_ the best choice for Gryffindor's prefect, is how you handled yourself in a very difficult situation only a few weeks ago. You had a very precarious choice before you, if you remember, between lying to help your sister, or telling the truth. Perhaps you don't realize how few people would have made the same choice in that situation. Even Harry would have let mister Malfoy take the heat. That is the reason why you were made prefect, and not Harry."  
Ron looked at Dumbledore in wild disbelief. Not only had he just praised his empathy and bravery, he also said he was good at being a prefect.  
"But professor," Ron tried, "Don't you believe that others might be more suitable?"  
"In the beginning of last year, I hesitated with giving you this responsibility. I wasn't unsure about your abilities, but more about how you would behave yourself as a prefect. It is a mature responsibility, and I must confess, I thought you rather childish then. I think Harry might have made a better choice then. Yet, I did not wish to burden him with even more worries, so I decided to choose you, believing that prefect duty might help you mature faster, and I'm proud to say that it did. There is another student from your year that was entrusted prefect duty for exactly the same reason, though I fear it was too little, too late for him. I still have hope for him though. You're a fine prefect, Ronald. Just the man for the job."

Ten minutes later, Ron was standing outside the headmaster's office, trying to make sense of what had happened. In stead of being relieved of his prefect duties, Ron had gotten praise for them. He had expected Dumbledore to be glad, happy to give Ron's prefect duties to Harry, but instead, Dumbledore had refused to accept his resignation and sent him off, complimenting him on a job well done.  
"I think I'll just lie down," Ron decided, "And see what tomorrow brings."  
Ron walked down to the dormitories. It was about half passed eleven by now, the common room was only slightly populated. Several people looked at him in a strange way. He ignored them, walked up a stairs and fell down on his bed. He noticed Harry hadn't gotten back yet, but he wasn't able to keep himself awake. He felt sleepiness engulfing him rapidly, pulling him into nice warm dream. It included Hermione, three (rather small) pieces of clothing and absolutely no Lavender. When he awoke the next morning, bleary eyed and strangely refreshed, he realized it was half passed five in the morning. Harry was sleeping in his bed, a wide grin on his face.  
"I guess yesterday worked out well for you, mate."

Ron tried to go back to sleep, but he was (unfortunately for him) too awake to return to his dream. He settled with the next best thing: checking Hermione's Riddle. He had been to depressed to read it after his spat with Lavender, and had been too euphoric after his bath with Hermione. But now, he had both the time and the mood to ponder over it.

_"Inside of me, is the strongest of its kind. Wars have been fought over me, which is ironic. What am I?_

_- Hermione"_

Ron quickly picked a strip of parchment from his trunk, and started to scribble some sentences on it. He had found out by now, that writing down the clues and his thoughts about it made it much easier to solve. After writing for a while, he looked at the piece of paper, now half filled with blue ink:

"Inside of me" - Perhaps some sort of container?  
"Strongest of its kind"? - content is very tough?  
ironic that "wars have been fought over me"  
What am I? - indicates some sort of object, (an 'it', or item)  
Judging from the sentences, Wars have...is ironic = description.

Below it was a small doodle Ron had drawn, reminding him faintly of his last dream. He quickly scratched it out, thinking it best, should anyone find it.

Ron looked at the riddle.  
"So I'm looking for an object in a container. Its very strong and wars have been fought over it. Perhaps it is a weapon?"  
He looked back at the clues.  
"If wars have been fought over it, that wouldn't be ironic, so a weapon is out."  
Ron's mind began to wander after this. Several mild-minded minutes of musing about Hermione later, Ron found himself no further than he was. He started to think about everything that had happened these weeks. He had finally kissed Hermione for the first time, broken off with Lavender, kissed Hermione for the first time, remained a prefect and had kissed Hermione for the first time! His mind bulged with pride and joy thinking of that blissful moment when her lips had finally met his. It was something he had wanted to do every day since their fourth year. Ron had seen moments where he had nearly kissed her. Days in which she had praised him stood out in his mind. Nights when he had been lying awake, convincing himself to talk to her about it were endless in supply within his memories.

Ron thought about how all this had started. He had been dreaming of Hermione again that night. Hungrily, he had gotten some ice from the kitchens, and had found Hermione asleep in the common room. She had looked so peaceful, Ron had forgotten all his fears and doubts. He had spoken to her while she was sleeping, about his love for her, about him wanting to be with her forever. She had been awake though, pretending to sleep while hearing him talk. The morning after, he had awoken with a present on his trunk, a present from Hermione. Soon afterwards, the first riddle came along, and everything had changed.

Ron thought about the other answers. He had written them down on a parchment a while ago, making sure he would not forget any of them. He opened his trunk again and fetched it out. He had hidden it in a small tear in the lining of his trunk. It was still neatly folded in half, and was in mint condition. He read all the answers.  
_Sense of smell, never spoken, potion, love.. What are you hinting about Hermione?_  
Suddenly it came to him. On the socks she had made for him, the words "The Burrow" had been sown. But they also featured a small cauldron with steam coming out of it.

Putting things together, Ron realized the answer.  
"Amortentia," he said proudly, "That's the answer!"  
"Listen Ron," Neville said, "If you want someone to love you, you'd do better in putting some more effort into your appearance."  
Ron flushed red. And when Ron flushed red, he _really_ flushed red. He swore to himself quietly and quickly hid the parchments. His feeling of shame had hardly parted when he was overcome with pride. He had solved it. Armortentia was "the strongest of it's kind", a love potion. Troy had fallen because a witch called Helen, its creator, had accidentally spilled some on her bread, eaten that day by both herself and some foreign prince there to visit.  
"So what does all this have to do with each other?" Ron thought, "What's the link? Amortentia, Love, Potion, smell and never spoken?"

Ron was known by others to be rather thick-headed. This was often a rather quick judgement, made by people that didn't really know him. His brothers made fun of him, but they knew, just like his best friends, that Ron wasn't really that bad. Yet, everyone can have a bad day and Ron, being just another human, certainly had his fair share of bad days. He looked at the answers and realized this was not a bad day.  
_I remember it, Hermione,_ Ron thought to himself, _I know what it means!_  
Suddenly, the full impact of this revelation revealed itself to him.  
_If Hermione smelled that, everything changes. If she smelled the Burrow during the first class of potions, that would be a definite proof._

Ron quickly jumped out of bed. He hurriedly put on his clothes and sprinted down the stairs almost immediately afterwards. He was about to try and jump up the stairs of the girls' dormitories when he realized what Hermione had said to him last night. She told him they could not act like love-birds immediately after Ron breaking up with Lavender, so she would probably not want him to run up the stairs, kick down the door and confess his eternal love for her, with Lavender sharing her room.

Ron calmed down and decided to handle the situation differently. When he walked down to the breakfast table to grab a bite to eat, he was smiling from ear to ear, knowing Hermione was really going to be annoyed by this new approach.


	9. A Change of Perspective

Hermione closed her eyes and sat down on her bed. It was dark outside. Closing her eyes, she tried to relive the last few hours. When Harry had taken a sip of the Felix Felicis, she had felt that swooping feeling again, as if she was being lifted off her feet in exhilaration. She had felt that way before, mostly with Harry and Ron. It felt like the wind, rushing against your face while you ride a Thestral. It picked you up, lifted you off your feed and suspended you above the air for a while. Hermione had come to refer to it as 'swooping' to herself. She had 'swooped' during the philosopher's stone tests in their first year. She had swooped in her second year, when she realized it was a basilisk that was terrorizing the school. She had swooped in the Shrieking shack in their third year, and in the ministry in her fifth year. When Harry had tipped the potion passed his lips, and she had felt herself swooping again.

She had been thinking about the feeling, or, more accurately, the feelings, a lot. They made her feel special, yet, at the same time very ordinary. They made her feel out of control, yet somehow guided. It was a feeling she had come to love and hate. Hermione craved control. She wanted to know what to do, where to go and figure everything out before acting. Swooping involved chaos. She would lose control, yet somehow, she never felt out of place. Harry, Ron and her would always find some quick answer, always find something to do. If she was at a loss, one of them would help her. If they were at a loss, she would help them. It was a wonderful feeling, being part of a team that didn't expect her to be outstanding; that never made her feel she _had_ to perform.

As they had descended the stairs she felt herself becoming more and more picked up. She was of course dumbstruck by Harry's odd behaviour, yet none the less intrigued by it. She had read about Felix Felicis' effect on people, but seeing the effect on Harry was undeniably fascinating. She descended the stairs, her feeling of elation rising.

Unfortunately, seeing Lavender's face and hearing her shrieks and shouts had about the same effect on her feeling of elation and excitement as a bucket of cold water did to the dreams of a sleepwalking man. Her swoopy feeling had become squished, which only intensified when she tried to back off silently. She had been walking up the steps of the girl's dormitories, when had she heard Lavender call her a slut. Ron had valiantly defended her, but that hadn't taken away all of her feelings of guilt and shame. She had fled up the stairs and ran into the lavatories. They were deserted and their slightly ill-lit and cold cubicles didn't improve Hermione's feelings much. She sat down on one of the toilet bowls and closed her eyes.

Hermione had just been sitting there, with closed eyes and a depressed mood, not knowing when to come out. She was alone. She had felt alone. She had felt alone for quite some time now, since she didn't have many friends besides Harry and Ron. They did. Harry had loads of friends, ranging from professor Lupin and Hagrid, to third year Hufflepufs, that he'd befriended with Quidditch. He might not have noticed it often, but he was actually quite popular. Ron too, had many friends, mainly befriended because of quidditch and his brothers. Just like Harry, he was quite oblivious to it. Hermione had friends, sure, but she didn't have a friend for just these sorts of occasions. She had close friends, closer than most people are friends, but she missed having a girl friend.

Hermione had always been with boys. Harry and Ron were her best friends, but she couldn't discuss the 'girl stuff' with them. It had felt great when Ginny had wanted to talk to her about menstruation, something she had to find out and solve on her own (using books in the library and some helpful pointers of Madam Pomfrey of course). It had been bliss, feeling that sisterly bond for just an hour with her. It had made her friendship with Ginny much more solid. They sought each other out more often since then, discussing 'girl stuff'. She felt lonely, sitting alone on the cold toilet bowl for more than half an hour by then. Tears had been streaming down her face. Her head had seemed to want to show her all of the negative emotions she had been fearing for several weeks now. She went from guilt and shame, past loneliness, to depressed.

Later, someone had entered the lavatories. Hermione had heard her open one of the cubicles and sit down.  
_That's odd. She didn't even take the time to put down her pants._  
It was a known fact that on Hogwarts, it took longer to go to the toilet, because everyone was wearing robes. Hermione heard soft sobs coming from the cubicle. Apparently, the other girl was crying too. _I guess I'm not the only one with problems. Perhaps I should go and see what's going on and if Harry has come back yet._ She stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes. She opened the cubicle and walked to the mirror. Her eyes were red from crying, and what little mascara was on her face had smudged. She always forgot she was wearing it. She turned around and strode to the door. For a moment, she thought about saying something to the other person in the cubicle, but she decided against it.

Now, she was sitting on the bed, eyes closed and listening to the soft sobs coming from Lavender's bed. She had felt alone in the lavatories, missing a girl to talk to. When she had left the lavatories, she had met up with Ginny immediately. Ginny told her to go to the prefect's bathroom.  
"I think Ron really needs to see you right now," she had told her, "He's feeling rather depressed."  
"I'll go down there right away."  
She turned around to walk to the prefect's bathroom, when Ginny suddenly grabbed her arm.  
"Oh, Hermione?" she said, "I'm so glad you and Ron are finally going to get together."  
Hermione looked into Ginny's eyes. She smiled and before she realized it had happened, she was hugging her friend tightly.  
"Hermione," Ginny said in a wheezy way, "I'd like to breath too."  
"You're my best girl friend." Hermione had said, just before running to the prefect's bathroom.

o0o

Hermione put her clothes off, slipped into her pajama and got into bed. She remembered the swooping feeling. If Harry taking Felix Felicis had made her feel like swooping, than Ron had redefined it. She still could not think of it without smiling broadly. _They had kissed! At last!_ He had pulled her into the bath and had kissed her passionately. She could still feel the glowing on her lips. She could still feel the warmth of his embrace. It had been divine, just like she had always hoped it would be. It had made her feel tingly and mushy inside. It had been perfect.

_All he has to do is solve his final riddle and they would be together at last!_  
And with that thought, she fell asleep.

The next morning, Hermione got up early, even for her standards. She wasn't going to force Lavender into bumping into her all the time, so she had decided to get up even earlier to steer clear from her. Lavender always got up around eight, so Hermione decided to get out even before half past seven, just to be sure. Her alarm clock went off at half past six, giving her enough time to pick some clothes, slap on some make-up, and perhaps comb her hair a little. It felt hard getting up so early, but she knew it was going to be a good day, and she wanted to do a bit of extra effort for Ron.

Make-up and styling usually took Hermione too long. It wasn't that she had no interest in it, she just didn't want to spend most of her time at school in front of the mirror. She had calculated that the half an hour she would otherwise have spent at make-up, totalled to a hundred hours of learning or fun. Still, she was prepared to sacrifice that half an hour today, if only to see Ron's face.

She slouched to the bathroom, still half awake. When she stood in front of the mirror, she let out a long yawn, which normally meant her sleepiness was residing. She looked at herself in the mirror. She had never spent much time on her appearance. She went for a short shower, both revitalizing and cleaning herself up.  
"Time to see if something about this wreck is salvageable..." she muttered to herself.  
After putting on some mascara and eye-liner, she picked up the blow drier. It had been magically altered to include more functions, apart from needing no batteries or plugs. Hermione had never really gotten the hang of it, not because it was hard to operate, but more out of a lack of interest.

When she was done, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a little less bushy, her eyes a little more visible. She had been working on everything for just a few minutes and the results had been worth it.  
"Funny how such a small difference can change how you look so much. I guess this wreck can pass for acceptable.." she said critically (and rather unfairly too!).

When she went down to get some lunch, Ron was already sitting there. He was wearing his usual gleeful expression, the one he usually wore when he was feeling exceptionally happy about something. When he noticed her coming down the stairs, he immediately walked up to her. Hermione's insides squirmed. She wanted to hug him, tell him she loved him and spend the day somewhere preferably deserted.

"Hey Hermione," he said, "Breakfast isn't being served yet, so I guess we're going to have to wait a while."  
"Good morning Ron. You're up early, even for my standards."  
Ron smiled at her. Her insides squirmed again. She could feel her constraints shrinking. Ron's smile was breaking down her inner defences.  
"I've had a rough night."  
So far, Ron hadn't yet jumped on her, nor tried to kiss her. She had half expected him to, seeing as that they were alone in the great hall. His self-control seemed to be enough to keep him from her, at least for the time being.  
"Nice weather, isn't it?" Ron said looking up at the ceiling.  
_The weather? Ron is actually talking about the weather after everything that had happened? Here I am, keeping myself in check not to jump on him, and he's busy small-talking about the weather?_  
"Uhmm, Yes, I guess it is." she replied, "So how do you feel after last night?"  
"Mostly tired, I guess.."  
_Did he even remotely register what happened last night?_  
"I did have a nice dream about a sandwich today though. Felt oddly full when I woke up."

Ron's behaviour didn't change all day long. He didn't speak one word to Hermione about their kiss or his feelings for her. Hermione had been trying to figure out what had happened. _Had he used me to break up with Lavender? Was he still in love with me?_ Hermione was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. A small bubble of rage had started building up in her head over the hours, and Hermione felt it was just about to pop. She'd stormed up the girls' dormitory at half passed nine, infuriated by Ron's total lack of change.  
_I can't believe that jerk didn't even want to talk about last night. At last we kiss, and he doesn't even want to discuss it._  
She decided to take her make-up off.  
"If he doesn't change his ways, why should I?"

Hermione pulled the curtains from her bed open in a furious way. She immediately noticed a small envelope lying on her sheets. For a moment, she thought Lavender might have cursed it and put it there to hurt her, but even Lavender wouldn't stoop that low. She opened it, smelling a light vanilla and teak scent. All the feelings of frustration and anger she'd directed at Ron melted away instantly. Inside the envelope were two pieces of paper, one of them, slightly bigger and folded, was scented. She read the smallest one first. Both sides of it had the same word written on it: "Amortentia".  
"So Ron did solve the riddle!"  
Hermione read the other parchment. Written on it, in a neat scrawl was the following text:

_Dear Hermione,_

_These last few weeks have been wonderful. I've_  
_spent hours pondering over your riddles. Now it's_  
_time for you to ponder for a while. You've given me_  
_the best gift I've ever had, so in style, I give you:_

_"Rooted firmly in the ground, I am an unmovable force._  
_yet I can outrun anyone, even people on a horse._  
_Up and down, left and right, my movements so cliché._  
_But when we meet, I guarantee, it'll be touché!"_

_- Ron_

_Ron, you devil! You'll keep me up all night!_  
Hermione quickly closed the curtains of her bed and pulled the sheets over herself. She lit the point of her wand and started to dissect the riddle.  
"I'll get to the bottom of this before the end!"


	10. Playing Mindgames

Hermione woke up. The alarm clock on her trunk was giving off a loud and irritating beep. She picked it up and threw it away from her. It cleaved the air in a graceful arc and slammed against the wall. It broke apart immediately, which sent parts of it flying through the room.  
"Finally up, huh?" Parvati said coolly, "It is ten to eight by the way."  
"What?" Hermione whined, "That gives me just ten minutes to get up, get dressed and get something eat before my class begins! Why didn't you wake me up?"  
Lavender walked into the room, looking smug. "We didn't want to disturb your beauty sleep..."  
Hermione got up. She quickly got into the clothes she'd worn yesterday and stormed into the bathroom. She had been busy all night, trying to find the answer to Ron's riddle. It had proven to be rather hard, so she had been working on it until she heard the clock strike five and had called it a night.

Her hair was standing on end at one side. She had probably been sleeping on it again, which proved problematic. When she'd been sleeping on her hair, it took her ages to get it into a somewhat presentable model. Immediately, she shoved her head under the shower in order to soak it down. This approach really seemed to work, since her hair went limp immediately. After drying it up quickly with a towel and picking the sleep out of her eyes, she ran back into the dormitory.  
_No time for make-up today. Ron'll be disappointed._  
Hermione whipped out her wand and pointed it at her bag, her bed and the remains of her alarm clock. Her bag immediately filled with the correct books, a long piece of parchment flew into her hands and her alarm clock mended itself. Before the last piece of it had mended and it had popped back onto her trunk, Hermione had closed the door behind her and stuffed the parchment in her pocket.

She stormed down the stairs. She still had three minutes to get from the Gryffindor Common room, in one of the towers of Hogwarts, down to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Snape would certainly take points from Gryffindor if she were late. Hermione raced through the corridors and sprinted down to the door. It was still open. She was going to make it!

Snape slammed the door shut. Hermione fell onto her bottom after skidding to a halt against it. A loud bang echoed through the corridor. Snape re-opened the door with a wide, mirthful smile on his face.  
"Why miss Granger, was that you knocking on my door?"  
Immediately, his smile turned back into the emotionless face he usually wore in class.  
"Take your seat. I'll be lenient and won't take points from Gryffindor for your lateness."  
Hermione looked at him in mild confusion. Snape had never let an opportunity go to take points from Gryffindor.  
"Unfortunately," he continued, "I _will_ take ten points for damaging my door."  
Hermione looked at Snape with a baleful stare. Not only had he taken points from Gryffindor, he had also made her look stupid.

Hermione felt the eyes of everyone fixed upon her as she walked towards the table where Ron and Harry were sitting, rubbing the bruise on her forehead. Ron looked infuriated, and by the signs of it, had been restrained by Harry from acting on his fury. His face was reddened and his eyes looked at Snape with even more malice than her own.  
"You're late?" Harry asked quietly, "You're never late! What happened?"  
"I overslept," Hermione mouthed back angrily as she got her quill and parchment from her backpack, "I thought that was obvious!"  
Harry rolled his eyes. Ron coughed rather loudly, signalling that Snape was looking in their direction. Harry and Hermione quickly got into writing position and started to write down what Snape was telling them.

It was a rather uneventful class, wherein they were scribbling down everything Snape was telling them. Hermione had read all of it before, as Snape was quoting directly from several of the standard books about non-verbal spells, such as 'Supreme Silence' by Prewett and Prewett, 'Sourcery' by Pratchett and 'Unarticulated Miracles' by goblin bishop Tak of Hando. Hermione realized she was drifting off with her concentration. She fondled with the parchment she had summoned to herself in the bedroom. That night, she had been reading the riddle over and over for hours, memorizing it completely. She had broken down the riddle into several small parts and written down objects that could possibly be described by it. This had resulted into a list of more than fifty objects. She had scanned the list quickly; noticing none of the objects appeared on each line before falling asleep.

Harry nudged her side. She snapped out of her thoughts, noticing Harry was holding a crumpled piece of paper. She quickly took it into her hands and shoved it into her pocket, together with the parchment holding answers to the riddle. She had spent too many hours in a classroom with Snape to know that reading a note could immediately result into the loss of points for Gryffindor. She would wait for an opportune moment to read the note.

That moment came when Snape walked up to Parvati, who had been whispering to Lavender. While Snape was asking them what they found so interesting to discuss, she quickly unfolded the note in her pocket. She looked down to it. It was from Ron, saying:

_"Dear Hermione,_

_Are my eyes deceiving me or have you actually lost concentration?_  
_How long have you been up, trying to solve my riddle?_

_- Ron"_

Hermione glanced sideways at Ron, who was staring fixedly at his parchment, though a suppressed grin flashed upon his face momentarily. It vanished as quickly as it appeared. Hermione scribbled a five on the parchment. She paused momentarily, realizing she had spent six hours on the riddle already. She also realized she had only slept for three.

The rest of the class had been a complete waste of time for her. Most people were actively writing on their parchments. They had probably not read the books Snape was quoting from, so everything was new to them. Hermione on the other hand had read all of it before, so her concentration began to wander. She began thinking about Ron again, as she did so often these days. She thought about how much fun it had been to keep him busy with the riddles. At first, she only thought it was a bit of fun, but it really seemed to get the best out of him. They really seemed to motivate him.  
_That it drove him and Lavender apart was just an added bonus._

After her classes, Hermione walked down to the library. She was determined to solve the riddle as soon as possible, if only to catch up on her sleep after telling Ron the answer. She walked down to the end of the library, sitting down at 'her' table. She always sat there, because it was close to the restricted section and far away from others. She had spent days there, looking in the library and reading the most interesting of books. She folded out the parchment and looked down the list of words. Then, she turned the paper around, reading the riddle on the back.

_"Rooted firmly in the ground, I am an unmovable force.  
yet I can outrun anyone, even people on a horse.  
Up and down, left and right, my movements so cliché.  
But when we meet, I guarantee, it'll be touché!"_

"Rooted firmly in the ground," Hermione thought, "that must indicate something solid, like a building, or a tree. But trees can't run, and neither do buildings."  
It had been those lines that had kept Hermione confused. Every time she thought she had found a suitable answer for one line, another contradicted it.  
"Perhaps it's a word that has two meanings, or an object that has two names."

Hermione spent nearly an hour, pondering over possible answers to the first two lines. Her mind began to wander again, thinking about her own riddles. She had never expected Ron to solve the first riddle on his own, even with all the hints she had put into the text. She had used one of the earliest methods of encryption, devised by Caesar to send coded messages to his troops. Using the chessboard made it easier for Ron to-

_Chess...  
people on a horse...  
Merlin, it's so easy, why didn't I see it before. A tower! An unmovable force, moving over the board faster than knights do and in cliché movements, and when it hits another piece, it fights.._

Hermione closed her eyes. She couldn't wait to tell Ron she'd finally cracked it. She imagined Ron, beaming down on her and congratulating her. She had never told anyone, but she really needed that confirmation about her abilities a lot. Hermione wasn't as self-secure as everyone thought. She was just a girl, whom had a reputation of 'best of the class' to uphold. She had spent hours upon hours in the library, just for that reason. Whenever Harry or Ron told her she was 'brilliant' or 'a genius', she would feel more secure about herself and her abilities. She had felt euphoric for a week when she had heard that Harry had called her 'the best of his year' to Slughorn.

Her insecurities had been worst in her first years on Hogwarts. She had read every book she could find, afraid that she would be lousy at magic. She had no friends, so she had all the time in the world to spend in the library. Becoming friends with Ron and Harry had been great, but also increased her insecurity. Ron came from a large wizarding family. He had grown up with magic and knew all about the wizarding world. Harry was 'the boy who lived', and he too had magic in his bloodline. Both of them were wizards because their parents had been. Hermione had felt she was 'only muggleborn'. She learned quickly that magic was more about motivation than family, but the insecurities she had about her abilities still plagued her sometimes.

Hermione took the parchment and stuffed it into her bag. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and stormed out of the library. Once outside, she quickly steered herself towards the Gryffindor common room. The fat lady was merrily drinking a glass of wine with her friend Vivian when Hermione arrived.  
"Morituri Nolumus Mori", Hermione said.  
It had no effect. The fat lady had been drinking again and was pretending not to hear her.  
"Morituri Nolumus Mori", Hermione said louder.  
Still no effect. Hermione was getting irritated.  
She drew her wand. Placing it by her mouth, she whispered: "Sonorus".  
"MORITURI NOLUMUS MORI", Hermione said, her voice magnified by a hundredfold.  
This certainly had its desired effect. The fat lady jumped up so high, she momentarily appeared in the painting above her.  
"My word!" She said, when she opened up, "I was only closing my conversation with Vivian. Kids these days, no respect for elders!"  
Hermione climbed into the common room. All eyes were fixed upon her.  
"What?", she said innocently, knowing that everyone had heard her booming voice through the door.

Ron was playing wizard's chess with Harry. He had Harry down to three pawns, his king and both bishops. They were trembling and shaking as Ron's queen, both his knights, his remaining tower and seven pawns were tauntingly cracking their fingers or menacingly sharpening their swords. It didn't look like Harry was very happy about this. His pieces were squabbling to each other about who had to stand in front of king, to protect him from being taken by the queen.  
"Hi you guys," Hermione said merrily. Ron smiled at her happily, while Harry merely gave her a small, sorrowful glance. He was prodding an unwilling pawn forward, sacrificing it for the greater good. The pawn was scolding at Harry, telling him he was a lousy strategist, while Ron was happily shaking hands with his queen. Hermione stood behind him, leaning over him to whisper into his ears.  
"Why mister Weasley," she hummed, "I do believe your Tower is exposed..."  
The effect was immediate. Ron sat up straight, turned scarlet and glanced nervously down. He turned his head around, nearly causing his nose and lips to brush passed her face. Hermione could feel the warmth of his breath on her skin. He smiled.  
"Took you long enough," he whispered in her ear softly, "I was starting to think you wouldn't be able to solve it."

"What are you two muttering to each other about?" Harry asked glumly as Ron's Queen trampled over his pawn.  
"Just basic chess strategy," Ron lied calmly, "Nothing fancy."  
Hermione smiled secretly. Ron was looking down on his pieces again, while she was still standing over him, smelling his scent. Ron smelled like vanilla and teak, like he always did these days. It was a pleasant mix, Hermione thought, suiting him well.  
"I'm going to catch up on my sleep," she muttered into his ear, "You've kept me up longer than usual last night."  
Ron flashed red immediately. He looked at her in shock when she left.  
"Boys," Hermione thought as she climbed the stairwell, "They can't stop thinking about that one thing, can't they?"


	11. Erratic Behaviour

Several days had passed since Hermione had given Ron the answer to his first riddle. She was now lying on her back in bed, realizing she wasn't going to finish reading "Magic from the Ground Up" about the magical properties of Sapient Pearwood today. Every time she'd read three lines, her mind immediately started thinking about Ron and what riddle he might come up with next. She imagined him sitting alone in the library, thinking hard to create an imaginative and difficult puzzle.

She put the book under her pillow and pulled the sheets over her head. It was late again, like every day since he had given her the first riddle. Hermione had spent hours, fantasizing about living a life with Ron. She imagined herself living in a house like the Burrow. Ron could be obnoxious, rude and self-centred sometimes, but that didn't matter to her. She knew him as the gentle, caring guy he mostly was. Ron didn't have to be perfect, to be perfect for her. Hermione wasn't perfect either, carrying a deep-seated insecurity about herself.

Her insecurities sometimes seemed to dominate her life; Hermione would constantly find herself insecure about her appearance and her abilities. Doing hours of studying, handing in twice as much homework as was requested and answering as much questions in class as she could soothed her insecurities greatly, but they never really left. Hermione had found only one thing that made her insecurities disappear completely. She had grown to love it more than she could ever have imagined herself loving it. It was Ron. Ron made her feel like she was cute, but above all, smart. Talking to him made her feel smart, not because Ron was dumb, but because he asked the right questions. He challenged her. Slowly, Hermione fell asleep. Her mind had been racing with thoughts for hours, causing her to fall asleep well after two o'clock. It was a peaceful, dreamless sleep that felt like it passed within seconds.

She woke up oddly refreshed. Bright sunlight was streaming in from the windows, flooding the dormitories with warmth and colours. Hermione realized she had overslept again. She jumped out of bed, fished some clothes from her trunk and ran into the bathroom. It was deserted.  
"If it's empty," Hermione thought, "I must be seriously late!"  
Hermione feverishly pulled on her clothes, smoothed her hair and stared at her reflection in the mirror.  
_Still boring old Hermione,_ she thought bluely, _still the same stupid hairdo, the same freckles on my nose, the same thin lips. What does he see in me anyway?_

She ran back to the dormitories and picked up her alarm clock. Two years ago, she had bewitched it, so that it would always be on the correct time. She had felt quite content with her handy spell work. A few months later, she had charmed it to set itself automatically. She hadn't needed to touch the 'set' button for more than a year now. For some stupid reason, the clock hadn't gone off today.  
_Did I charm it wrong?_ Hermione speculated while examining the clock. In the end, she decided she would look at it in the evening, when she'd have more time to find out why it wasn't working.

She pointed at her bag, using a non-verbal spell to fill it with her books for today. Oddly enough, her bag remained completely still. The books that normally flew out of her trunk remained completely still, refusing to move even an inch. Surprised, she pointed her wand again, expecting her bag to open and her books to zoom to it. Again, the desired result was not achieved.  
_What's wrong with me?_ Hermione thought desperately, _Why isn't my magic working?_  
She pointed again, saying the spell aloud this time for better results. Again, nothing moved.  
_I've done this a million times,_ Hermione thought despairingly, _why won't it fill up?_  
For a second, Hermione had a glimpse of the unthinkable. She saw herself expelled from school, cast away because she couldn't do magic any more. She saw, in her mind's eye, professor McGonagall telling her she was a big disappointment to her. Then, she saw something even worse. Ron holding hands with Lavender, telling her how 'swell' he thought she was.

Hermione slumped to her knees, tears forming in her eyes. She kept pointing her wand at her bag, trying to get the stupid thing to fill up. It didn't. Big watery tears fell down on her lap as she saw her world collapse in front of her eyes. This was it. The end of Hogwarts for the 'brilliant' Hermione. All those hours of studying, all those feet of parchment of homework, all the spells she'd remembered, all of it had been for nothing. Magic, it seemed, had been taken from her.

"What on earth are you doing," Lavender said coolly, "it's Saturday today, you daft cow."  
Suddenly, everything fell into place. If it was Saturday, her alarm clock would be working excellently, because it wouldn't have needed to ring. That would also mean her books wouldn't have to be put into her bag, because she had no classes on Saturday. Slowly, she relaxed. She wiped the tears from her eyes and for barely a moment, she sighed with relief. She closed her eyes. She could still see Ron, holding Lavender's hands. It had been horrible, thinking he wasn't interested in her after all.

Hermione stormed out of the girl's dormitories and ran into the common room. She noticed it was only ten o'clock, so most students were still in bed. Hermione ran up the stairs, into Harry and Ron's dormitories. Ron's bed was empty, just like Harry's. Immediately, she noticed a big, red envelope stuffed under Ron's pillow. She picked it up. It was heavy. On it was written, in a scrawl as neat as Ron could muster, Hermione's name.  
"Should I read it?" Hermione said to herself, "Maybe he wants me to read it here."  
_On the other hand, it _was_ hidden under his pillow, so he probably doesn't want me to read it._  
"But he won't find out I've read it."  
_So? It would still feel like cheating._  
"I just want to know what the next riddle will be. Nothing big, just a.. heads-up."  
_So wait for him to give it to you._

In the end, Hermione's better half won out. She had almost opened it when she realized she was being stupid.  
_If Ron wanted me to read it,_ she reasoned, _he would have given it to me._  
Hermione walked up to the window, after putting the envelope back under his pillow. She looked out, over the school grounds towards the quidditch pitch. Seven brightly coloured, red and gold dots were zooming fast between the hoops. By the looks of it, Harry was training them in passing the quaffle around, as the small black speck she assumed to be the quaffle was being tossed around fast. Hermione decided to pay them a visit.

Before she did, she decided to fetch the book she had wanted to finish reading last night and put on some make up. She opened her trunk and delved deep to find her make up. She never used them, so they had been lying discarded on the bottom of her trunk for months now. All she owned was some eyeliner, some rouge and some mascara.  
"Lavender?" Hermione asked in a singsong voice, "can I borrow some make-up from you?"  
"And watch you steal some other poor girl's boyfriend?" Lavender retorted heatedly, "Have you grown bored with Ron already?"  
"For your information," Hermione said, "I am still deeply in love with him, but I guess I shouldn't have asked you."  
Hermione closed her trunk, got up and left the room, leaving a scolding Lavender behind. She applied what little make up she owned as skilfully as she could and tried to comb her bushy hair. She wasn't really pleased with the results. Her hair was now even more voluminous than before. She sighed deeply and gave up brushing it, knowing it would only get worse.

Hermione sat down on one of the seats near the quidditch pitch. Ron was sweating profusely and was breathing heavily. His eyes were focused on the quaffle, while he moved his broom slowly left and right to keep the hoops covered. Harry was bellowing orders to Katie. When he noticed her at the tribunes, he waved at her, quickly followed by more bellowing at his team mates. Ginny yelled 'Hi' quickly when she flew overhead, chased by a bludger. Katie was about to throw the quaffle when Ron noticed Hermione. Immediately, he fumbled his save, nearly losing grip on his broom and receiving a big speech from Harry afterwards. Absent-mindedly, he nodded along as he kept stealing glances towards Hermione. Hermione waved back secretly, knowing Harry would not like her to encourage Ron's growing self-doubt. She grabbed the book from her bag and started reading it.

When the quidditch practice was over, Ron came up to her immediately. He seemed very happy about something.  
"Did you see that last save?" he stated enthusiastically, "Even Harry thought it was good!"  
"I'm sorry Ron," Hermione said, "I was reading my book. I didn't see much of the practice."  
"I guess I'm not totally surprised," Ron said, "You've never really had much interest in Quidditch. Actually, I don't think you have any other interests other than reading."  
"I have other interests."  
"Name one."  
"Ronald Weasley..." Hermione said with a secretive grin on her face.  
Ron flushed scarlet. Hermione liked this new approach of direct communication. No longer needing to hide their feelings for each other, Hermione and Ron had found themselves in a whole new area of flirting. Ron whispered sweet little nothings in her ears during classes, when nobody seemed to pay them any attention. Hermione liked to be more cryptic, like when she had told Ron the answer to the first riddle.  
"Listen," Ron muttered, "I've got to go change and take a shower, but would you like to play a game of chess with me afterwards?"  
"Sure, it's a date!" Hermione answered enthusiastically. Ron smiled and turned back to the castle. He had crossed several feet when Hermione suddenly grabbed his shoulder.  
"Ron?" she asked quietly, "If I would become horrible at magic overnight, would you still love me?"  
Ron turned around and looked at her puzzlingly.  
"What do you mean?" Ron said, "Horrible at magic? Where's this all coming from?"  
"If I woke up tomorrow and I couldn't do magic, would you still love me? Would you love with me if I was a muggle?"  
Ron cupped her right cheek in his left hand and closed the gap between his lips and hers.

"Was that a sufficiently accurate answer?" Ron whispered softly after several minutes.  
Hermione nodded in silence.  
"Good," Ron said as he walked back to Hogwarts. Before he got far, he looked back one more time and said:  
"I believe a mutual friend of ours left something for you on your bed."

Back in the castle, Hermione walked straight up to the dormitories and towards her bed. She pulled the hangings away quickly, hoping to find the big, red envelope there. Instead, she found a small, folded piece of paper, which contained the following message, written in Ron's usual scrawl:

_Dear Hermione,_

_I suppose giving you the riddles on_  
_a Saturday would be better for your_  
_career at school._

_"I'm only one away from a flock._  
_you should call on me if you have the time,_  
_because I've got lots of that in stock,_  
_and with that, I end this rhyme._

_- Ron"_


	12. Clever Conversation

Hermione sat down on her bed, hands shaking of adrenaline. _A new riddle. Ron sent me a new riddle!_ She read through it quickly, scanning the lines to get a general idea about it. Like its predecessor, it was short and puzzling. She mentally cleared her timetable, wanting to solve the riddle as fast as possible. She imagined herself sitting in the dormitories undisturbed for hours, working on finding an answer to the riddle. Then, she realized she had accepted Ron's invitation to play wizard's chess around 2 'clock. She checked her alarm clock. It was half past twelve, enough time to start working on the riddle.

_"I'm only one away from a flock.  
you should call on me if you have the time,  
because I've got lots of that in stock,  
and with that, I end this rhyme."_

Hermione read the riddle over and over, noticing the three hints Ron was giving her. The first was _"only one away from a flock"_. She had no idea what Ron was hinting about there, but some logical thinking might come in handy. The second hint was "call on me if you have the time", perhaps hinting about the item taking a long to use. The third hint, "I've got lots of that in stock" probably hinted about it having some reservoir or container.

_Hermione! You've got to think logically! I want to impress Ron by giving him the answer during our game of chess. That means I've got one and a half hour left to get it together._ Hermione focused on the riddle. She went about it like every other puzzling problem she'd ever solved. Firstly, she'd look at it globally, not really trying to solve it, but trying to find the 'bigger picture'. After that, she'd look at each line individually, trying to find any hints hidden in the text. Lastly, she'd try to put everything together, expecting to find the answer.

Hermione looked at the clock. She had been staring at the riddle for over twenty minutes. All she'd been able to think about was sheep and telephones. Her mind had been wandering off to Ron frequently too, remembering the passionate and gentle kiss he had given her only an hour earlier on the quidditch pitch. She felt her stomach teaching somersaults to her brain every time she remembered him putting his hand on her cheek. It was blissful, thinking about that moment, but it was rather getting in the way of her finding the answer to Ron's riddles.

_One away from a flock,_ Hermione thought, _It's probably not something as simple as 'a sheep', so what does he mean by this? Is he talking about groups of things, or items?_ Hermione glanced down at the alarm clock on her trunk. It was ticking along merrily; indicating only sixty-five minutes were left. Hermione closed her eyes, trying to block out all thought unrelated to the riddle. _One away from a flock isn't about the amount of something, it's about something else. So Ron doesn't mean flock is important, but..._

In the next hour, Hermione slowly started to piece things together. She stopped thinking about creatures, and zoomed in on the word flock.  
"Of course!" she said suddenly, "He means the word 'flock', not a flock in general! What I'm looking for is spelled almost the same like the word flock."  
Hermione picked up a piece of paper and scribbled down as many words as she could that resembled 'flock'. She had written down almost ten words. She looked at her trunk again. The alarm clock's long arm was pointing at the nine; she only had fifteen minutes left.  
"If only I had just a little bit more-"  
_Time!_

_I'm so stupid._ she thought, _I can't believe I've been looking at the answer all this time._  
She picked up the alarm clock and stared at it for a while.  
"You do have lots of time in stock don't you?," Hermione said happily after twenty-three seconds, "and when I need to know how late it is, I'll be sure to call on you."  
Hermione stood up. She still had ten minutes before Ron and her would start their game of chess. She walked up to the fifth years' dormitories and knocked on the door. A quick chat with Ginny would help her relax. _Perhaps she'll lend me her eye-liner..._ A brown-haired girl with round, blue eyes opened the door.  
"Oh, hello Hermione!" she said cordially, "Ginny isn't here right now, she went out to the library to study for her OWL's."  
Hermione smiled as she remembered her own stress and insecurities during last year. She had been learning frantically, trying to prepare as best as she could for the OWL exams. It of course didn't help much, the more she learned, the more tensed she got; causing her to forget most of the things she had learned.  
"Thanks," Hermione said to the brown-haired girl, "I guess I'll talk to her later then."  
"Ginny told us you've been getting more interested in using make-up," the girl said before closing the door, "I can see it's paying off. You look really pretty."

Hermione wasn't sure, as she wasn't really in the position to see, but she assumed that she was positively beaming in joy. A girl she'd never really spoken to had just told her she looked really pretty. _Can this day get any better? It's like in one of those stories. Ron kissed me, I've solved his riddle _and_ people tell me I'm pretty._

Two o'clock. Hermione was sitting in the common room behind an old board of chess. It looked old. There were some deep scratches in the side of the board, probably left by an overly enthusiastic queen or king. They had been there for years. Hermione remembered seeing them there the first time she had laid eyes on the board. The rest of the board was in similar state. It was scratched, bruised and battered. It wasn't in poor shape though, its pockmarked surface merely added to the overall feel of authenticity.

Ron came downstairs. He was carrying his own pieces of wizard's chess. Compared to Hermione's, they looked new. Hermione wasn't very good at chess, only winning occasionally against Ron, and she had the feeling he'd let her win those matches. Ron was a great strategist, planning ahead at least three or four moves. Hermione already had trouble thinking ahead two moves. While Harry and her would try to find some way to get his bishop or queen, Ron would sacrifice it to mate their king. Only when Ron was playing against both of them did they really stand a chance. This had resulted in Ron's pieces staying in quite a good state, while their pieces were often reduced to parts of chalk and stone.

Ron sat down in front of her. He was smiling broadly.  
"Hey Hermione," he said, "Good to see you've made it."  
"I had enough time," Hermione hinted, "It's amazing how much you can do in ninety minutes."  
"I'm sure it is," Ron said while putting his pieces on the board. His knights were waving their swords menacingly. "did you get any work done?"  
"Yes, I've been working around the clock to get finished in time."

Ron and Hermione exchanged a silent glance. Hermione was beaming with happiness, knowing Ron knew full well what she was talking about. Ron was looking at her with a knowing glance, confidently making his first move.  
"Did you enjoy the riddle?" Ron asked, as his knight moved to square F3.  
"Yes," Hermione said, prodding a pawn forward, "It was very good. You're really good at it."  
Ron smiled, not taking his eyes off the board.  
"Have you got any ideas about where the answers are pointing to?" Ron asked. His pawn moved forward slowly, only taking only one step to E3.  
Hermione scanned the board quickly. Then, she looked up at Ron. He was looking at her dreamily, which made her feel twittery in her stomach, yet also highly aware of herself and her appearance.  
"Not yet.", she said quickly, avoiding his admiring looks and prodding an unwilling pawn forward, "But then, you can't draw a triangle with only two lines, can you?"  
"I dunno. I guess not." Ron said, while moving his bishop from F1 to B5. Slowly, he moved forward, like he was going to whisper something to her. She leaned in too, curious as to what he was going to say.  
"Hermione, when can we start seeing each other officially? I know you think it's best to wait, but then, you also thought about S.P.E.W., so not everything you think of is a necessarily brilliant..."  
Hermione didn't know whether to be angry at him for joking about S.P.E.W. or to be flattered by him for saying she was mostly brilliant. Before she could react though, Ron looked down.  
"Oh, and by the way," he whispered gently, "check."  
"I guess I don't have to give an answer that question then," Hermione said quickly, avoiding the subject skilfully.  
Ron looked at Hermione's trembling king. "Let's go for a walk. I don't think your mind is really into chess right now."  
Hermione agreed. She'd been busy talking to Ron so much, choosing her words so very delicately, that she'd completely lost oversight over the match. Ron had almost beaten her in three turns!

Ron and Hermione passed the great hall on their way out. Draco was standing there, showing off to some Slytherin girls.  
"Aww look everybody, it's mister and misses Weasel."  
Hermione had expected Ron to send an insult back, like they usually did. Instead, he did what Hermione least expected him to do. He ignored Malfoy completely.  
"What's wrong Weasley? Cat got your tongue and your mummy can't afford a new one?"  
_Here it goes. Ron'll probably explode.._  
The group of Slytherins was laughing haughtily, probably very amused by Draco's insults. Ron didn't even react. It was as though Draco wasn't even there. Ron walked through the door, and only then did he show any sign of having noticed Draco. He looked over his shoulder, eyeing Draco in a pitying way. It was as though Ron was telling Draco he excused him for being childish.  
"Well" Hermione said, "that was rather unlike you. Are you feeling okay?"  
Ron chuckled. "It took some restraining, I'll grant you that. I had an enlightening conversation with Dumbledore about Draco a while ago."  
Hermione looked at Ron. Why did you discuss Draco with professor Dumbledore?  
"I went by his office a few days ago," Ron said while they passed the Whomping Willow, "It was just after our first kiss in the prefect's bathroom."

A pair of Ravenclaw first-years was practising flying on a broom on the grass. One of them slipped off after going up only a few feet, causing his broom to fly off on it's own. It flew directly towards the Whomping Willow that quickly reduced it to splinters. Hermione and Ron walked up to the boy.  
"Are you okay?" Ron said while pointing his wand towards the splinters under the Whomping Willow.  
"Raparo" Hermione mumbled, causing the broom to mend.  
"Accio Broomstick", Ron said aloud, causing the broom to shoot away from the branches before the Whomping Willow could smash it again. Ron snatched it out of mid-air and, after giving the boys some pointers, they moved on.

"So what did you want to speak with professor Dumbledore about?" Hermione asked again.  
Ron was gazing over the fields towards the shore of the lake. Firenze was standing there, looking up to the sky.  
"There he is, standing there like a living statue.", Ron said, "I've heard that he's been going on about impending tragedies and the like for months now. Something to do with Mercury rising in Pisces or whatever."  
"Ron," Hermione said urgently, "I asked you a question..."  
"I know, I know." Ron said reluctantly, "I got quite a talking to by Lavender that day. She told of. Said some things that made me feel like- like a loser. I went up to Dumbledore to tell him I wanted out of prefect duty."  
"But Ron.." Hermione said, but before she could complete her sentence, Ron continued.  
"I guess I've been doubting myself too much. It's the same with quidditch, really. I was just a little unsure about everything. Dumbledore really helped me see things straight. He's a great man."  
"So you didn't quit?" Hermione asked.  
"And miss out one all those prefect meetings with you? Never"

Hermione smiled. They were coming round the other side of the castle, where the grassy slopes were overgrown here and there by trees. It offered a perfect place to sit and spend an afternoon. Even Trelawny, whom hardly ever left the protection of her tower, was sitting in the light of the early spring. She had laid out a small plaid, embroidered with some obscure runes. She was shuffling a pack of large cards, each about twice the size of of a chocolate frog card.  
"Let me see," Trelawny said peacefully, "The first card is The Fool, indicating a life of ignorance behind the subject."  
Trelawny seemed to be somehow soothed, like she had expected to see another card.  
"The Lovers", Trelawny said in a curious voice, "indicating the subject is currently on a point of making a choice or decision."  
"The third card is Judgment, giving the subject the opportunity to correct earlier mistakes and put the past behind."  
Hermione and Ron were waking up to Trelawny slowly, both listening to what she was saying. Ron noticed they were the only two students around for quite some distance.  
"The fourth card might stop or prevent the next state, if given the opportunity to."  
Trelawny flipped the card off the top, revealing a tower, crumbling at the top. Two men were falling from it, one crowned and old, another young and uncrowned. Trelawny stood up immediately, like she'd seen a ghost.  
"Not that one again!" she cried hysterically, "Not the lightning-struck tower."  
She threw the rest of the tarot cards down and ran back to the castle.  
"What was that all about?" Ron said when he picked up the cards on the plaid. He flipped off the top card, revealing card Twenty-One, The World.  
"I guess she's just overworked," Hermione suggested, "let's just gather up her cards and give them to one of the professors. They'll return them to her."

Ron and Hermione picked up the cards and shuffled them. Ron took them all and looked at her.  
"When can we tell people we're together, Hermione?" Ron said while holding out all the tarot cards like a fan.  
Hermione reached out and picked one.  
"It's too early Ron," Hemione said while looking at her card, "I don't want people to be offended."  
Hermione flipped the card over; it was brightly colored, featuring two figures side by side. Behind the first figure, a woman, was an apple tree with a snake. The card's number was six, The Lovers. Slowly, the card fell out of Hermione's hand. Before it touched the ground, Hermione's lips found Ron's. She pulled him in close, her fingers wrapping themselves into his hair, knowing she wasn't going to let go soon. _God! This feels so right..._ The sun was shining with a pleasant warmth, the plaid was invitingly soft and Ron was unmistakably irresistible. Hermione soon found herself lying on the plaid and in a close embrace with Ron.  
"I'm sorry Ron, but we just can't tell anyone yet," Hermione said, after some passionate kissing. She was sitting on his lap, her arms around his neck and her face touching his. The tips of their noses touched and slowly circled each other.  
"You know I want to tell everyone too. You know I want to be able to kiss you in a crowd, hug you before going to class or even just hold hands with you in the corridors. _Lord knows, I'd love to do a whole lot more._ We just have to wait a little longer. Let the dust settle. It's only been a week ago when you broke up with Lavender. She never shows it, but I don't think she's over you yet." _Judging by the puffy, red eyes she has when she wakes up in the morning._  
Ron nodded, looking into her eyes. "I know, I know. I have that effect on women."

Hermione laughed. She hugged Ron firmly, pressing her head against his. She knew they would be there for a while, making up for all the months they had been too shy to talk about their feelings for one another.

**A/N: Don't worry, this is not the end of the story, dark times are ahead.**


	13. Hogwarts, A History

Harry was eyeing Ginny again. Hermione had seen him doing it nearly all year long. It was funny, knowing about his crush on Ginny, while at the same time knowing Ginny still had a crush on him. Ginny had told her several times this year about how her crush on him had never really died away. Hermione had listened to her, knowing Ginny wanted to get it off her chest. Her relationship with Dean had been, to use Ginny's words, "superficial at best". Hermione had expected Harry to act on his emotions earlier, telling her about his crush. But, just like with her and Ron, there seemed to be something that was restraining him. If she had not awoken two months ago in the common room, when Ron was telling her about his feelings for her, they might still have been silent about it to each other too.  
_I guess things sometimes need a little push. A nudge in the right direction._  
She glanced over the book she was reading and looked at Ron. He looked away immediately. Ron had been looking at her again. He had been doing it for nearly a year, and it had only gotten worse over the last few days. After solving his second puzzle and taking a walk, they had decided to sit down in a covered piece of the Hogwarts grounds. They had sat there, kissing and talking to each other for more than an hour. It had been blissful to feel like lovers after such a long time of alienation. But at last, after all those months of dancing around their feelings for each other, and after Ron's horrid relationship with Lavender, they started to feel ready to be together.

Hermione's eyes lingered on Ron's freckled face. He was pretending to read, Hermione noticed, because his eyes weren't moving. He was staring at something, probably waiting a while for another chance to look at her. He had done so hundreds of times by now, unaware of Hermione knowing this. When his eyes shot back, she looked straight at them. Ron smiled at her, knowing full well that she knew he was eyeing her. They stared at each other for a moment, until both of them looked away.  
_It's a wonderful feeling, looking into his eyes, but it still feels so... so unknown. What do I do with the knowledge that he wants the same thing as I do?_  
For nearly fifteen minutes, Ron and Hermione kept stealing glances with each other, sometimes looking each other straight in the eyes, smiling secretly.

"So what do you think of my theory? Malfoy in the Room of Requirement all the time to create a weapon?"  
Hermione let out a sigh. Harry had been obsessed with finding out Malfoy's plans for weeks on end. In the beginning, it had been a nice subject to talk about, but after several weeks of debate and discussion, she had grown rather tired it. Ron was still interested, but he had told her he was starting to lose interest in it too.  
"Perhaps he's trying to do his homework," Hermione said, "like you two should be doing."  
Ron gave her a half-hidden smile. Harry instead, was looking at her destructively.  
"Maybe Malfoy's meeting some girl in there." Ron said, "Check if Pansy Parkinson is still on the map mate."  
Harry closed the Marauder's Map. "You two obviously aren't interested," he said, "So I'll just go upstairs, I need to take my rest before our match against Ravenclaw."  
Ron gulped. The upcoming match was important, so naturally, his nerves had started to act up again, just like the always did. Only this time, there was no denying the importance of the match. Gryffindor needed to play a good match, or they might end up last in the competition.

Hermione absent-mindedly flipped through the book she was reading. Or, it might have been a better description to say the book _was being read_ by her. It was written in some draconian, old language that has probably not in been use for ages. The words on each page were re-arranging as you read them, all of them trying to get your attention. It was hard to read at first, but if you relaxed a bit, and if you let the words guide your eyes over the pages, it was actually quite easy and fun to read. The book was being read by her about advanced use of metrics in a search space of Arithmancy. It was an interesting read, especially if you liked Arithmancy (like Hermione did).

Ron was sitting in front of her, looking rather smug.  
"What?"  
"Nothing..." Ron said, rather too nonchalantly for him to actually sound nonchalant.  
"What?"  
"Hmm?"  
Hermione looked at her surroundings. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Ron was sitting in his usual chair, closest to the fire. He was looking directly at her, apparently unafraid to show his interest in her without Harry around. Looking back at the book, Hermione noticed what had changed. Somehow, Ron had managed to slip a message on the pages. The parchment it was written on had been tucked between two other pages. She quickly picked it out and unfolded it. Ron was beaming at her by now, apparently very pleased about his abilities to slip her a note in secret. Hermione noticed he had been holding his wand secretly behind his back all this time. She scanned the lines. She had expected a rhyme, or a riddle, but instead, it was more like a letter.

_"Dear Hermione,_

Today, I would like to take the opportunity to take you back a few years. There are some things I would like to say to you, and I in the process, you will discover a new riddle. Are you up for the challenge?

In our first year, I'm afraid to say, you were a royal pain in the ass. Not only were you a bossy know-it-all, you were also always right. Harry and I were right not to like you at first, but after some troublesome times, we were befriended. Without your help, I might never have been able to knock that horrid creature unconscious and instead of getting us expelled, you lied to everyone and took the blame yourself. That claustrophobic place mirrors the beginning of our friendship. Go there, and find the first part of the next riddle.

Ron."

Hermione looked up at Ron. He was smiling at her in a slightly unsure way, like he wasn't sure whether Hermione was going to go out of the Dormitories after hours or not. Hermione had not doubted this at all, ready to take any risk to find that new riddle. She got up, packed her bag and flung it over her shoulder. Then, she sprinted out of the portrait hole, heading down to the lower levels of Hogwarts.

When Hermione entered the Girls's Lavatories in the dungeons, she recognized it immediately. She had gone down there in her first year, after a nasty (yet, correct) comment about her that Ron had given Harry. She had felt horrible and above all, alone. She knew he was right about her not having any friends. She knew he was right about her being a know-it-all. Yet somehow, Ron had managed to say it so crudely, so tactlessly, that she had felt horrible when he did. She had ran down to this lavatory, knowing that every girl in Hogwarts that wanted to cry and wanted to be left alone went there. She guessed trolls didn't know about such things...

The lavatories were exactly like she had remembered them. Cubicles lined one of the sides of the room. They were old, worn by time and disuse. Some of the lavatories were scratched on by students, their doors carrying snide remarks or strange doodles about teachers and other students. The opposite wall was lined with sinks and made of a white-brown stone. The last few were relatively small, perhaps an older model used years ago. The other sinks were newer; replacing the broken ones the troll had smashed when he had advanced to Hermione. She remembered well the fear that consumed her then. She had been petrified, trying to make herself as small as possible. She had backed out into the wall in front of her now. It still bore the old, round mirrors it had born that day. She remembered looking into them, cursing herself for her insecurities, before the troll had gone into the lavatories.

Hermione began searching the room. There seemed to be no visible clues about the whereabouts of the riddle. She opened each cubicle, inspected every sink and even probed all the pipes visible in that place. After nearly fifteen minutes, Hermione still wasn't any closer to finding the riddle. She had truly searched everything in the room for the riddle, except for her bag, of which she was quite sure it didn't hold anything interesting. She sighed, and walked over to a mirror. She had searched everywhere for a message. For a while, she had thought Ron might have put it on one of the doors of the lavatories. While searching them she had discovered a nifty doodle of professor Sprout covered in Bubotuber Pus and that a boy named Clack McAllister should have something down a place that made Hermione blush. Unfortunately, there were no messages written by Ron, leaving Hermione slightly confused.  
_If Ron left a riddle here, why can't I see it?_

She walked put to a mirror. It was shiny and reflective, like the mirrors in the Gryffindor tower were. They reflected Hermione's interested face, because something was odd about them. The lavatories, which have been in disuse for years, were dirty. The mirrors however, were sparklingly clean, like they had been polished recently. Hermione had the nagging feeling that the mirrors were somehow the answer, but how would she find the riddle? She inspected one of the mirrors closely. They were unstained, and fingerprint free. Even the mirrors in the Gryffindor Tower weren't _that_ clean.

Hermione decided to do a small experiment. She opened the hot-water tap on all of the sinks. A few seconds later, hot water began pouring out, causing steam to billow up. The lavatories were rather cold, located down in the dungeons of Hogwarts, so the steam developed quite quickly and heavily. It swelled up thickly from the sink, expanding in each direction as time passed by. After a while, the steam started to touch the mirror, condensing against it.

Of the five mirrors in the room, the middle started to condense differently. A big cross appeared on it. It was placed upon it by cleaning the windows, and then, when the window was condensed again, drawing it.  
"Okay Ron," she said proudly, "I see what you mean."  
She took out her wand. With a quick, whip-like movement of her hand, she flicked her wand, causing the window to disappear. A small piece of parchment was hidden behind it, glued to the wall by an invisible spell. Hermione reached out and pulled it slightly. Whatever spell had kept the parchment on the wall immediately dissipated. She unfolded it and read another small letter from Ron:

_"Dear Hermione,_

_Well done, I knew you could figure it out. You've always been the most intelligent of us three, and perhaps even the wisest. You certainly showed Harry and me your brilliance in our second year, when Slytherin's monster was loose upon us. You were able to figure it out completely on your own, putting together the pieces of the puzzle without effort. You've paid for your brilliance too that year, because before you could tell us about the monster, you were petrified._

_Go now. Fly off to the place where Harry and I first saw you when you were petrified._

_ps. The first part of the next riddle is on the back of this parchment."_

Hermione flipped the parchment over in her hands. She glanced at it quickly, seeing something that wasn't what she'd expected, but did greatly excite her.

_"(1-3w)"_

Had Ron given her a mathematical puzzle? There was no time to linger though, as Hermione wanted to get that other piece of the puzzle as fast as she could. She stowed the piece of parchment in her backpack and shot out to the other side of the castle. Ron and Harry had told her the Quidditch match had been cancelled due to the attack. That meant that Hermione had been discovered before they saw her. That left only one place for her to go to: Madam Pomfrey's.

Hermione had a close shave on this trip, nearly bumping into professors McGonagall and Professor Vector. Luckily, they were in deep conversation with each other about the security in Hogwarts. Hermione had dashed off behind a suit of armour, silently waiting for them to pass far enough to risk walking out of its shadow again. When she did, she steadied her pace, realizing that if she would be found out of bed in the middle of the night, she would never be able to get the next riddle.

It took her about ten minutes to reach the hospital wing. She was about to open the door when she realized she didn't have an excuse to enter the hospital wing.  
_Madam Pomfrey will be suspicious of me if I don't have a reason for visiting the hospital wing,_ Hermione thought, _So what am I going to use as an excuse?_  
Suddenly, the light sprang on in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was apparently still awake at this hour, perhaps tending some unfortunate recipient of a curse. Hermione realized this wasn't going to be as easy as she had hoped. If Madam Pomfrey was asleep, simply using that Muffliato spell would have been enough. But now that she was awake, more drastic measures had to be taken. Hermione took out her wand again. She pointed it at her legs, doing something she never expected to do to herself.

"Oh hello dear," Madam Pomfrey said benevolently, "You're out late. If mister Flich sees you, you'll be in for some trouble."  
Hermione whimpered. Madam Pomfrey looked down at her legs.  
"I guess it would have taken a while to get here like that, wouldn't it?"  
Again, Hermione whimpered, noticing the positive effect it had on her acting performance. She had cast the Jelly-Legs curse on herself, knowing it was easily removed and gave her an excuse to be late.  
"I've been trying to get from the library to the hospital ward for more than two hours now," Hermione lied, while wobbling on her legs, "Nobody seems to be up at this hour."  
Madam Pomfrey swished her wand trough the air, solidifying Hermione's legs.  
"I'll write you a note that will clear you for moving through the castle after hours," Madam Pomfrey said, "That way, you won't have any trouble with the guard... I mean teachers, should you meet them."

As Madam Pomfrey turned around to grab a piece of parchment, Hermione peered into the hospital wing. It was quite dark, with white light shining in from the window. Hermione noticed a small piece of parchment on the windowsill. Anyone else might not have noticed it, but for those looking for something out of the ordinary, it was rather obvious. She pointed her wand at it.  
"So, miss Granger, ready to get back to bed?" Madam Pomfrey said.  
Hermione quickly shot her wand-hand back.  
"Yes, I'm beat."  
Madam Pomfrey gave her the note, clearing her for being out of bed at such a late hour. Hermione accepted the note, while Madam Pomfrey started to push her out of the door.  
"Off you go then," she said, "I've got more pressing matters to attend to."  
Hermione flicked her wand, using a non-verbal spell to close the curtains around one of the beds. This seemed to put madam Pomfrey off slightly. She looked at the bed in wonder, not realizing it was Hermione that had just closed the curtains magically. Hermione had already flicked her wand again, causing a bedpan to zoom through the air. It clattered into the corner as a bedside table started to bob dangerously, spilling the scissors and syringes on top of it over the floor. Madam Pomfrey quickly walked over to a cabinet that was starting to lean over dangerously. She pushed it back while the contents of several drawers were zooming through the air, forming complicated figures above madam Pomfrey's head.  
"PEEVES," she yelled angrily, "STOP THIS RIGHT MADNESS RIGHT NOW!"  
Hermione held out her hand, as a small piece of parchment came zooming through the pandemonium. Madam Pomfrey, completely oblivious to anything else, was cursing Peeves under her breath while trying to pull one of the beds back into the ground. When Hermione closed the door, Madam Pomfrey hadn't even noticed her leaving the room.

She ran out of the corridor, and into one of the empty classrooms. There, she unfolded the small piece of parchment:

_"Dear Hermione,_

_Another parchment found, another piece of the riddle in your hands. I hope you haven't had too much trouble getting it._

_In our third year, Sirius strayed into our lives, causing an old villain to be uncovered. Fear isn't the word for what I felt that day, when I was being pulled into the opening at the Whomping Willow. The next part of the riddle is located in a place where you can see best, the thing that ruined Sirius's chances for a normal life._

_- Ron"_

When Hermione flipped the parchment over, on it was written:

"90o"

_Excellent!_, Hermione thought contently, _Time to get the next part._  
She flung her bag over her shoulder and gripped the door. Suddenly, she realized she didn't know where to go.  
_A place where you can see best, the thing that ruined Sirius's chances for a normal life,_ Hermione thought as she reread the riddle. What was Ron talking about? Sirius wasn't murdered here at Hogwarts...  
_Of course,_ Hermione thought, _In our third year, Lupin turned into a werewolf because of the full moon, just after we found out Sirius was innocent. If he hadn't changed back then, Sirius would never have still been thought of as murderer. Ron isn't talking about his death, but about the place where you can best see the moon. He's talking about the Astronomy Tower!_

Hermione raced up the tower. It took more than five minutes to climb to the top of its stairs, but when she had finally reached it, she noticed it was worth the effort. The surroundings were magnificent. The astronomy tower had a dozen soft beanbags in it. Sitting in them meant practically lying on your back, making the strain to look up at the sky a little less irritating. The tower had a high ceiling with a round oculus in it, a round hole that let light in. She had seen one before on a trip to Rome. This one was different though, as it magically magnified the sky and didn't let rain or snow pass through. It was a clear sky tonight, so the oculus was magnifying hundreds of little stars.

Hermione had always found it ironical that the only thing the muggle world had surpassed the wizarding world by was their thorough investigation of outer space. It was also the thing that was furthest out of reach. Everyone knew that wizards, although highly interested in the courses of planets and stars over the sky, didn't have any interest in the exact science of astrology. Muggles had long revered the stars, but had now given up on mysticism, replacing it with facts and figures of stars no man alive would ever be able to reach.

Hermione stood below the oculus. High above her, the pale, waxing moon shone upon her face, giving off enough light to cast shadows in the astronomy tower, yet too little to make out much detail. The moon was magnified by a hundredfold, its pockmarked surface clearly visible. Hermione was able to clearly distinguish different features on the moon, like Mare Crisium, Mare Tranquilis, and the lunar landing site. She wasn't, on the other hand, able to distinguish Ron's next part of the riddle. She decided to search the tower, trying to find the riddle or at least some hint about it.

She sat down in one of the beanbags twenty minutes later. Nothing. Not even the slightest trace of a hint was visible in the gloomy astronomy tower. Hermione stared up at the ceiling, looking straight through the oculus at the sky. For some reason, The waxing moon seemed to stare at her. Its eyeless, faceless body wasn't physically capable of staring, but still, that awkward feeling of being stared at started to fill her up. She averted her eyes, deciding it was a nice night for a quick glance outside. She stood up, the moon still staring at her without eyes, and walked up to the side of the tower. The view was nothing short of spectacular, as it always had been. The enormous British landscape filled every part of Hermione's vision, showing a rugged terrain. The forbidden forest was draped over the uneven terrain like a thick blanket, absorbing the feeble glow of the waning moon completely. It stretched out onto the horizon, where the first mountains were beginning to dominate the terrain. The village of Hogsmeade was shining like a small candle in the darkness, connected to the grounds of Hogwarts by the railway that moved through the terrain like a black snake.

Hermione looked down from the window. The astronomy tower was high, very high, and apart from the waist high wall, there was nothing to keep someone from falling down. Hermione had never been able to suppress the urge to look down from the tower at the ground, fascinated by the depth. As she peered down though, she noticed something different. In the grassy grounds of the Hogwarts castle were set up several torches. They were placed there by the house-elves every night this year to light the grounds in case of emergency. Today, they were set up in a peculiar arrangement. For some reason, the house elves had placed them in the exact same shape as the moon. Could this be the hint Ron had left for her?

Hermione ran back to the centre of the astronomy tower and peered through the oculus, back at the moon, which was now acting remarkably unimpressive (as far as heavenly bodies millions of kilometres away can act unimpressive). She examined it closely. For some reason, it seemed to be different from its usual state. After close inspection, Hermione suddenly noticed something.  
"You're mirrored!" she said aloud at the moon, "Mare Imbrium isn't on the right side of the moon, it's on the left!"  
Hermione peered outside. The moon was indeed not waxing, but waning. She walked back to the oculus. She quickly discovered, after closer inspection, that the image wasn't from the oculus, but a projection in front of it. Hermione whipped out her wand.  
"Dissipatus!" she said, causing the mirage in front of the oculus to disappear. Immediately, the moon flipped around, showing a waning moon instead. Although this was interesting to see, Hermione's eye quickly noticed the small parchment on the side of the oculus.  
"Accio", Hermione said, causing the third part of the riddle to fly into her hands. She unfolded it eagerly, feeling proud of discovering it.

_"Dear Hermione,_

_I'm glad to see you're paying attention. I guess all those hours of studying astronomy finally paid off for you. I hope you don't mind me having cashed in on a favour with one of the house elves. I paid him a sock, so I guess I can still be a member of S.P.E.W._

_S.P.E.W. takes me back to our fourth year at Hogwarts. Again, there is something I feel I need to apologize to you for. At the time, I was still rather in the dark about my feelings for you, and seeing you with him drove me jealous. If there was one day I would like to do over, it was the day they announced the Yule Ball. I would ask you to be my date immediately. So I could stand where you need to go now, and watch you walk down those steps to me..._

_- Ron"_

On the back of the parchment was written:

\_\/

Hermione stared at it for a while.  
_That's odd,_ she thought, _I don't recognize that symbol in maths. I thought the riddle was some formula, but this doesn't seem to be a real mathematical operator._  
Hermione put the note in her bag with the rest and went down to the great hall, where she knew Ron wanted her to go. Ron had finally admitted to her that he felt sorry for behaving so badly during the Yule Ball. It had ruined Hermione's night, with her ending up in the girls's lavatories _again_.

Hermione flew down the steps, trying to get down as fast as she could. She jumped the last few steps, and sprinted off towards the great hall, which was only a few corridors away. Hermione started to feel a familiar feeling, rising from her stomach. It felt like being picked up from the ground, soaring through the sky without effort. She had called it swooping to herself. She knew it was just a biological reaction of the brain to the adrenaline pumping through her veins, but it felt magical all the same. She ran down the stairs of the second floor corridor, only one more passageway between her and the great hall.

"Oho, Severus," she heard Slughorn say just before running down the stairs, "Still up at this hour?"  
Hermione quickly dashed off to the left, only able to hide behind the statue of a plump witch moments before Snape and Slughorn passed within viewing range.  
"Yes," Snape said, his voice nearly able to freeze someone's butterbeer two miles apart, "I'm guarding the Great Hall today."  
"I see," Slughorn said, "I expect to be volunteerd by McGonagall any time soon too. Never thought guarding Hogwarts was much use. With those protective spells and enchantments on it right now, I'm surprised the students were able to enter."  
"Spells and enchantments can be broken, I'm afraid." Snape replied emotionless, "It would be foolish to keep the grounds unguarded at night, while everyone sleeps."  
"Still," Slughorn said, though with less enthusiasm, "who would attack a castle filled with wizards?"  
"I guess that's why you're the potions master and I'm the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor."

This seemed to have ended the conversation. Slughorn shuffled passed the statue only seconds later, muttering something under his breath. Snape, Hermione saw, as she peered through the legs of the statue, was eyeing him with contempt. He turned around on the spot and walked back to the chair he had been sitting on.  
_If only Snape would leave for a while..._, Hermione thought, _But what will drive Snape away from his duty?_

She had not yet finished the sentence in her head when Slughorn came running back from the other side of the corridor.  
"Severus," he panted, "Someone's left the water running in the girls' lavatories in the dungeons! Half of that floor is already flooded!"  
"WHAT?", Snape said heatedly, "Has the water reached my personal cupboard of potion ingredients yet?"  
"I'm afraid so, Severus," Slughorn said, "The Slytherin common room is also starting to flood. We need to stem the flood now!"

Hermione saw Snape and Slughorn storm by her, running down to the dungeon levels. She realized time was short. Snape and Slughorn were both excellent wizards, able to clean up this sort of mess quickly. If she wanted to find this part of the riddle, she had to move fast. When she saw Snape's black robes billow round the corner, she quickly got up from her hiding place and ran into the great hall. The four house tables were standing neatly in line, ready to be used for next morning's breakfast. Hermione didn't have much time; she estimated it would take five to ten minutes at worst to clean up the mess she had left below. She quickly checked the tables for anything obvious, like plates or dishes. She found none.

Suddenly, Hermione noticed a small sausage plate standing against the wall in one of the corners. She was sure the house elves would have cleaned it up if it didn't serve any purpose. She picked it up and looked at it. It was just a simple plate, without any markings, beside the Hogwarts crest on the bottom. She was sure it would serve some purpose to her. She walked back to the Gryffindor table and sat down on her own seat. She placed the plate in front of her, expecting something to happen. Nothing did.  
"Stupid me," Hermione thought, "This is just a bloody plate, nothing special."  
Hermione picked up the plate again, wanting to put it back in the corner and hoping Snape wouldn't notice anything. She lifted it up from the table, and immediately, she noticed a small white piece of parchment underneath it.  
_Uhgg, How could I forget.._ Hermione thought as she picked the piece of parchment off the table, _I did the exact same thing._  
Hermione put the plate back on the table and noticed that it vanished immediately, like it normally did when dinner was over. She unfurled the piece of parchment, reading it quickly to find the location of the next riddle. It would be for their fifth year, and Hermione really had no idea where Ron was going to send her.

_"Dear Hermione,_

_Our fifth year wasn't exactly what everyone would have hoped. Apart from Harry being a git sometimes, Fred and George becoming drop-outs and Sirius's death, we also bickered a lot together. I'm sorry if I sometimes drive you mad, but you just look so cute when you're angry at me..._

_It was also our first year as prefects. It felt great to me, sharing something with you, without Harry being part of it. I know he likes us both, and that he likes spending time with us, but sharing something with you, just you, felt great. I know you sometimes disagreed with me on how I used my powers as a prefect, but for someone who stressed me so much on correct use of power, you've organized quite an amount of illegal gatherings._

_- Ron"_

Hermione smiled. Deep down, she had always known that Ron loved to see her angry with him. There were times when he seemed to take the opposite of her opinion just for the sake of it. She hated him for disagreeing with her, but deep down, she loved to bicker with him too. She noticed Ron hadn't really told her the next location, but by the looks of the last sentence, she had a good guess about where to go next. When she flipped the parchment over, she read:

"(w)"

_Great,_ Hermione thought, _More mathematical nonsense._  
Suddenly, Hermione thought she heard footsteps in the corridor. She quickly dashed out to the Great hall, stuffing the parchment in her bag. She rounded the corner just before Snape entered the hall, red-faced with anger. On the way to the third floor, she nearly walked into professor Sprout, who was animatedly talking to professor McGonagall. They too, were discussing the security on Hogwarts.

Hermione was standing beside a tapestry of several trolls in tutus, armed with clubs. She had just walked passed the room of requirement three times, hoping the door would open. It didn't. Hermione had tried to open the door with: "Show me the place where the riddle is", but the door remained undeniably shut. Further attempts, such as "Show me what Ron wants me to see", "Show me where I have to go" and "Show me the room I need to find" gave similar results. Hermione sighed. She suddenly realized the frustration Harry must have felt all year long, trying to find the way into the Room of Requirement while Malfoy was in there. Hermione started to think. What was it Ron wanted her to see? How should she open the door?

"For the last time, Severus," Hermione heard professor McGonagall say as she was walking down the corridor around the corner, "I hardly believe someone stole the plate. Perhaps one of the elves took it."  
Hermione jumped up, realizing too late that she was standing in a corridor that was often used. Snape and McGonagall would probably be walking passed this corridor soon. Hermione quickly walked past the door three times, opening her eyes after the third time. The door was clearly visible now. She wrenched it open, slipped in and just before professor McGonagall and Snape walked up to the corridor, she closed the door.

Hermione was standing in the DA classroom. It had been the first thing she had thought of. It was filled with small cushions and, in the middle of the room, quite out of place, a small table. On it were placed a set of candles, plates and cutlery. It was prepared for two, although there was no food and no drinks. She walked up to it in slight amazement, not expecting a romantic dinner table to be set in the middle of a room that had been unused for over a year. The chairs were set opposed to each other, the line of sight from one person to the other only blocked by one of the candles in the middle. It was an interesting sight. Hermione sat down on one of the chairs and surveyed the table. On each plate was placed a red napkin, folded by an obviously very experienced origamist into tiny dragons. Someone had also placed a spell on it, making the dragons come to life. She could clearly see both dragons sleeping quietly on the plates. Hermione inspected the dragons closer. They were sleeping on something. It was general knowledge that dragons always slept on treasure. Most dragons in these parts of the world had been killed, because of the treasure they had hoarded.

Hermione took out her wand and prodded the red dragon on her plate. After some grumpy, irritated snorts, it yawned, stretched and turned to look at Hermione. It had a pointy, straight snout, resembling a Keldon Ember-Blower most. Hermione noticed the dragon had been sleeping on a small, folded up piece of paper. She tried pushing the dragon aside with the tip of her wand, but the beast turned out to be quite strong, pushing back fiercely. It bit the end of her wand, causing some purple sparks to emit from it. Hermione moved her wand to the right, the dragon slowly following it, until it hit the side of the plate. Only then did it realize Hermione's other hand quickly picking up the parchment. The red dragon let out a defeated roar before solidifying again, the spell probably broken.

Hermione unfolded the small bit of paper. It was the left half of a piece of parchment torn in two. She scanned the lines quickly, but the sentences were all nonsense. Hermione walked up to the second plate. The dragon, awoken by the other's roar, was growling fiercely at her, ready to give his life for the treasure he was guarding. She tried the same trick, but this dragon proved to be more intelligent, never leaving his treasure unguarded. In the end, Hermione had to tip the plate over, causing the dragon to fall down the side. She then quickly snatched the note away, leaving another red napkin motionless at the spot.

_"Dear Hermione,_

_I guess the greatest mistake I've ever made, was made this year. Our sixth year at Hogwarts actually began quite nicely. Unfortunately, I messed things up badly after quidditch, snogging Lavender. For some stupid reason, I felt left out, inexperienced, and uninteresting. I hope you can forgive me for kissing Lavender, I know it was stupid. I guess now, we've both snogged someone else._

_Still, our sixth year wasn't all bad. Our 'swim' in the prefect's bathroom, the riddles we've left each other and the intimate moments we share when everyone is off somewhere else have made this year my favorite. I must admit that kissing you really was like I had always thought it would._

_Go now, to the place where 'us' began. Go to the place where we both talked for hours. I'll be waiting there for you, knowing you've been able to get all the pieces together._

_- Ron"_

Hermione flipped the note over. On the back of the parchment was written:

"90o"

"The last part of the riddle!" Hermione said proudly, "The final piece of the puzzle is in my hands."  
She opened her bag. Inside, she found the four other pieces of paper, neatly stacked together. She took them out and arranged them on the table, in the order she'd found them. She took the fifth part, adding it to the end of the parchment. Bright sparks erupted from the pieces of paper, causing Hermione to back away. She noticed the sides of the parchments were fusing together. After the pieces had merged into a whole, the words on the back started to shift, moving closer together, forming into:

"(1-3w)90o \_\/ (w)90o"

"So this is it," Hermione said euphorically, "I've found all the pieces and I now have the next riddle!"  
She folded the parchment up carefully, placing it in her bag with the gentleness of a mother Dragon moving her eggs.

Hermione opened the door of the Room of Requirement an inch. She couldn't believe it had been so simple. Her bag around her shoulder, she listened through the opening she had created, hardly visible from outside. She heard nothing. Slowly, she pushed the door a little bit further. When she peeked around the corner, hoping against hope that no teacher was walking by, she noticed that the corridor was empty. She quickly went out of the opening and closed the door. It vanished immediately.

Hermione started to walk stealthy and cunningly up to the Gryffindor common room. She avoided the main corridors, taking occasional detours past disused corridors, making the chances for her to walk into a teacher as minimal as possible. It took a while, but after fifteen minutes, Hermione had crossed most of her journey, only one floor and two corridors away from the portrait of the fat lady. She started to walk faster, wanting to reach the common room as soon as possible. She forsook stealth for speed, taking greater risks in order to arrive earlier.  
_Perhaps,_ she thought, _Ron will still be awake, and I will be able to tell him I've found all the pieces._

Hermione went up the stairs. She jumped the fifth step from the top, remembering it was a fake. She ran down the corridor, staying in the shadows as much as she could. She started to feel the slight stinging sensations she always got from running and decided to ignore them, knowing it was just a small distance to the portrait. Hermione could see that familiar golden light that emanated from the torches near the fat lady. It shone brightly around the next corner. She quickened her pace.  
_Just a bit further!_ Hermione thought, _Just a bit and I'm there!_ As she rounded the corner, a long, dark shape suddenly loomed up. Hermione was moving too fast to stop, and subsequently crashed into it.

She tried to get up as fast as she could, but it was to no avail. Despite her slightly fragile looks, professor McGonagall jumped up like a cat, grabbed her shoulder and gripped it firmly.  
"Of all the people I might have expected to be out of bed at this hour, Miss Granger," she said slowly, "I never expected you to be one of them."  
Hermione tried to make up an excuse, but when she looked into professor McGonagall's eyes, she realized that would be as effective as Harry's occlumency.  
"I'm sorry professor McGonagall," Hermione said in a defeated tone, "Am I going to be suspended, or even expelled for this?"

Professor McGonagall smiled, (or, to be more accurate, stopped frowning) and looked into Hermione's eyes.  
"My, you've grown tall."  
Hermione was at a total loss for words. What did that have to do with her being out of bounds at this hour? She simply stared back, not knowing what to say.  
"You're about my size by now," Professor McGonagall continued, completely unaware of Hermione's confusion, "but I still remember you walking up to the sorting hat as a little girl. I see you've discovered the benefits of make up too."  
Hermione stared back, still at a loss for words. She had been in class with professor McGonagall every year. Why suddenly begin about her appearance?  
"Miss Granger," McGonagall continued, suddenly speaking in her normal, bossy tone of voice, "Considering you were out of bounds, I'm sad to say there should be a punishment of some kind. The staff has been meticulously guarding Hogwarts for your safety, among with every other student. Do not repay us by disregarding the rules."  
Hermione felt it coming. Any second now, McGonagall was going to tell her she would have to do lines, or do detention with Filch.  
"Under normal circumstances, I would have given you a detention. But for someone who has gone out of bounds, passing every patrol between here and the dungeons with stealth, just to flood the Slytherin common room, I can't really find any worse punishment than this:"

Hermione was trembling. The dramatic silence professor McGonagall had inserted in her speech was working. She was sure she would be expelled. She could see herself standing outside with all her belongings in her trunk, her wand snapped in two and hopeless already. Perhaps Ron would let her stay with him, assuming he still wanted to be with her...

"Tut, tut, tut!" professor McGonagall said, waving a correcting finger in the air, "Now off you go, it's well passed bed-time for you. With some luck, you might still fall asleep sooner than the Slytherins, whom are emptying their common room with buckets as we speak."

Hermione smiled and thanked professor McGonagall (and whatever god was smiling down on her today, too). She ran to the portrait of the fat lady. She was looking at her in a confused way.  
"You're not going to use that spell again, are you?"  
"Don't worry," Hermione replied, "I just want to get in and go to sleep."  
The fat lady smiled at her. "Is he worth all this trouble?"  
Hermione stared at the fat lady in quiet wonder. "Who are you.."  
"One benefit of being a painting, my dear," the fat lady interrupted, "Is that you have seas of time. You know the paintings like to gossip. One of them being the mermaid in the prefect's bathroom. Another is the old cleric in the Gryffindor common room, or my friend Violet."  
"So you're telling me all the paintings are gossiping about us?"  
"No dear, just the ones that gossip. It's awfully boring, being a painting without anything to do."  
Hermione smiled at the fat lady. She smiled back in a questioning way. "Well?"  
"Well what?"  
"Is he worth it?"  
Hermione smiled as the fat lady slowly opened up.  
"He's worth more than all the trouble in the world combined."

The common room was empty, as it should be around this hour. Hermione looked around. Only one of the fires was still burning, although it was in desperate need of more wood. Most of the flames were dying out, slowly shrinking away into the embers of the logs. For some reason, it reminded Hermione of Dumbledore. She shrugged and walked up to the fire to add some wood to it. Suddenly, she saw an arm, hanging out of the chair closest to it. She recognized it immediately. Hermione picked it up gently and placed her hand in Ron's. He had fallen asleep in front of the fire. Hermione knelt down in front of him, smiling at him in a way only lovers can smile at each other.  
"Don't worry Ron," she whispered, "I'll find out what the riddles are leading to. Before long, we will be together. You _are_ worth more than all the trouble in the world."  
And after looking at Ron's face and body for an immeasurable amount of time, she stood up and went to bed.  
"I'll solve the riddle tomorrow."


	14. A Deep Breath

A bushy-haired girl was sitting in the Room of Requirement. She was sitting in front of a huge pile of books, each written about the same subject: maths. The room of requirement was lined with bookcases, each filled with books about numbers, formula's, algebra or other maths-related subjects. Deeply concentrated, she flipped the pages of a big volume of advanced mathematics. The book's pages described complicated formula's, none of which Hermione would probably ever understand.

It was only a week before Gryffindor's last match against Ravenclaw, and the school was buzzing with excitement. Every person with a voice seemed to be talking about the upcoming match. This had several implications. One of them was that every class Hermione took part in was harder to follow, because people around her were whispering discussions under their breaths. Another was that no place, not even the library, was safe from these discussions. People would be reading books about quidditch, whisper about the players or even looking up historical plays in the library's quidditch section.

The buzz had really gone to Ron's head. He was as insecure as he had ever been about his abilities as a keeper. Hermione had told him that he had played in matches like this before. That he was a good keeper, and a valuable asset to the team. He had shrugged this off, noting that his performance had been horrible at times, and he was only able to keep half the quaffles at practice that week. Still, Ron seemed marginally more relaxed than she'd expected him to be. He hadn't offered his resignation yet, which she had expected him to do.

Hermione focused on the books in front of her. In order to find Ron's latest riddle, she had been sent to the room of requirement. She had decided to work on the riddle there, knowing that even the library wasn't safe from quidditch any more. Apart from being the only room in Hogwarts that wasn't humming with the words "quaffle" or "bludger", it also provided more than enough help to complete the riddle. She had never realized that the room of requirement could also house a huge library, with more books than the school library would ever be able to hold. Apart from the books, the room of requirement also provided comfortable chairs (as ever), pencils and paper. She had chosen a selection of books, each of which related to geometry, algebra or complex functions.

Hermione focused on the books, flipping the pages of "Choice Axioms" by Zermelo in an absent-minded way. It was a heavy book, with a big 'Z' on the front. Something was bothering her. If Ron had been equally interested in maths as her (and she was sure he wasn't) he would probably not have understood any more of this than her. She had flipped through hundreds of pages of mathematical formulas, but it could just as well have been written in dog latin. She understood nothing of it. How on earth could Ron have ever made a riddle if he understood just as much of this as her?  
"It just doesn't seem to fit," Hermione said angrily, "How on earth am I supposed to solve this, if I don't know where to start?"  
Hermione shoved the books off the table in one hard push. She hadn't had much sleep today, going to bed well after hours and getting up early to start working on the riddle. It had left her with a short temper and a grumpy mood, especially after hours of reading nonsense. Hermione sighed.  
"Relax," she said to herself, "Don't let your mood get the best of you."

She bent down to pick up the books she had just shoved off the table. They were all piled on each other, with crumpled pages and open covers. One by one, Hermione picked them up and put them back on the table. When she picked up the last one, she noticed it was the book she had been reading. It was lying with its back towards her, making the big 'Z' on the top look like an 'N'.  
Hermione put the book back on the table and checked the riddle, trying to find something to look up in the books.

(1-3w)90o \_\/ (w)90o

Hermione only recognized the 90o as something familiar, probably relating to something being a straight angle. She had tried all the geometry books that might have been useful, but unfortunately, angles were never used in formula's. Hermione looked hard at the riddle, trying to find the answer.  
"If it's not a maths formula, then what is it?"

Hermione glanced back at the book. For some reason, the big 'Z' on the page was starting to draw her attention. She tilted the book, turning it back ninety degrees to form the 'N' again.  
"Could it be that simple?" Hermione thought.  
She picked up the riddle and turned it ninety degrees to the left.  
"(1-3w)90o must mean that I have to read it differently!"  
Immediately, she realized the obviousness of the riddle. Turning '1-' left meant making a 'T', the '3' became a 'W', and the 'W' became an 'E'. It was so simple. 'w' suddenly became 've'.  
"So now, I've got "TWE" \_\/ "E". The "\_" must mean 'L'. The answer is TWELVE!"

Quickly, Hermione gathered her stuff together. She knew Ron would be in the common room around this hour, so she put everything in her bag and ran towards the door. She pushed it open slowly, knowing that the room of requirement was best left unknown to the general public in Hogwarts. Hermione peered through the narrow opening of the door and, upon finding an empty corridor, pushed it open completely. She was about to step out of the room when Ginny suddenly came striding around the corner. Hermione let out a sigh of relief. For a moment, she was afraid that it might have been a Slytherin or Hufflepuf coming around the corner. The whole school would know about the room of requirement by then.

Ginny waved at her, and marched out to meet her. Before Hermione had opened the door wide enough to get out, Ginny pushed her back in. She walked in after her, closing the door behind her.  
"Hey Ginny," Hermione said, not completely sure about why Ginny had entered the room too, "what's up?"  
Ginny looked into Hermione's eyes.  
"I want to talk about Harry." Ginny said in a slightly nervous tone, "I mean, he keeps looking at me in such a.. He laughs about every joke I make.. Looked so happy when Dean and I split.. When is he.."  
"Ginny!" Hermione said, "Slow down. Complete one sentence before you say another."  
"I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to hide my crush on him."  
Hermione sat down her bag and sat down at the table. Ginny did the same, and before long, both girls were animatedly talking about Ginny's crush. Hermione loved to have these conversations. She had always felt that she didn't have any real girlfriends at school. Talking to Ginny made her feel like there was more to them than just the sister of her (soon to be) boyfriend.

"So how are you and Ron?"  
Hermione smiled secretly.  
"You two haven't been hiding something from us, have you?"  
"Us?" Hermione said in her most innocent voice, "From you? Never..."  
Ginny looked into Hermione's eyes. "So if word had reached me that you two were found kissing behind the castle, that information would not be correct?"  
Hermione smiled. Ron and her had tried to keep as hidden as possible. They had not seen anyone walking past them when they were kissing.  
"For someone who hasn't been kissing my brother, you do seem to be blushing quite a lot, Hermione Granger..."  
Ginny smiled.  
"It's good to see someone is making progress," she said suddenly while getting up.  
"Don't worry Ginny, Harry will act on his emotions soon enough."

The girls slipped out of the room of requirement quickly, quickly closing the door behind them. Ginny was headed for the library, so after a quick hug, both girls went their separate ways. Hermione was going to visit Ron, to tell him she'd solved his riddle. She assumed Ron would be sitting in the common room now, as he always did when he was supposed to be studying. When she arrived, she indeed found him there, talking to Harry. They were discussing the match (obviously) and Ron, filled with tension and pre-game nerves, looked paler than ever. When she approached the boys, Ron immediately dropped his conversation with Harry and greeted her happily.  
"Hey Hermione! Are you coming with us to dinner?"  
"Perhaps later, I want to talk to professor Vector about a mistake I think I've made in my last arithmancy essay. I wasn't sure back then, but I know for sure the answer was 'twelve'."  
The effect, like always, was unmistakable. Ron's face broadened into a grin, his eyes looking into hers knowingly.  
"In that case, you're probably right."

In a moment shorter than a flash, Hermione saw Ron wink at her. His face immediately went sour and he dashed off to the toilets.  
"Off to empty his stomach again? He's been running off to the loo for more than a week now." Harry said.  
Hermione smiled as Harry turned and walked off to dinner. She waited for a minute, and when Harry was well out of sight, she sprinted off to the toilets too.

She opened the first cubicle and found Ron, sitting on the bowl.  
"You're taking longer and longer, Hermione."  
She closed the door and sat down on his lap. Gently, she slid her finger though his hair.  
"Do you think Harry is ever going to notice that every time you pretend go to the loo to throw up, you're actually meeting me here?" Hermione asked.  
"I think," Ron said, as he pulled her in even closer, "I'm not going to think right now."


	15. After the Plunge

The castle was buzzing with rumors and back talk. Where people weren't talking about quaffles and hoops, any more, they were talking about 'him'. No less than three hours ago, 'he' had single-handedly strangled all hopes of Gryffindor winning the match against Ravenclaw. Harry Potter had brutalized their hopes; he had smothered their dreams and bashed their wildest fantasies to tiny little bits that fizzled as you tried to keep hold of them. Yet somehow, there he was, suppressing the urge to smile. Suppressing the urge to jump up and pull the redhead near him closer. Harry Potter, Gryffindor seeker, captain of the quidditch team, was nowhere near glum. He was ecstatic. Hermione had been unable to suppress her critique about Harry's use of the Sectumsempra spell, and had subsequently received a full dose of Ginny's wrath. They had rowed openly, something both girls had never done before and Harry felt it was like a dream!

Hermione was sitting with her back to the table, her arms folded together and her eyes welling with tears and rage. She was staring at some random point in oblivion, barely able to control herself. She appeared to be both angered and hurt at the same time. Ginny was as close to a 'best girl friend to Hermione' as any girl had yet managed to become. The two were inseparable during the long vacations at the Burrow, where they shared a bedroom (and thus, undoubtedly many secrets). The only time Ginny and Hermione did not spend together was during showers and quidditch (Hermione was, after all, a terrible flier and not even Ginny volunteered to be with her).

Now, nothing of that closeness seemed to exist. Hermione was doing her best in out-staring the bricks in the common room wall, while Ginny was muttering under her breath. Looking at the redhead made Harry thank god she wasn't as cross with him as she was with Hermione. Her face was as red as her ruby hair, her squinting eyes darting around the room, trying to find an innocent bystander that would look back at her in a wrong way. Fortunately, everyone in the room had enough sense not to do that. Harry noticed her looking at him when Hermione turned around to grab a book, though she looked different when she did. Almost empathically.  
_Could she still fancy me?_

_Bollocks Hermione,_ Ron thought nervously, _Why could you not let it rest till tomorrow? Why did you have to do the 'I-told-you-so' routine again? You always do these things. Can't you just leave it at peace until the next day? Harry has had enough to endure for one day._  
Ron had buried himself the first book he could find. He had not bothered reading it, and if he had, he would probably not have continued holding it upside-down. Instead, Ron was actively trying to avoid his sister's eyes, and trying to see what Hermione was doing. Harry was sitting next to her, making it nearly impossible for him to see Hermione's face.

_Why are you always so stubborn? Can't you just leave it behind? Sure, you'll never hear me say I don't think you're cute when you're angry, but you've got to think about the others too. Harry has been through enough today. He knows what he did was wrong. You should have left him in peace._

Ginny was still squinting out everyone in the common room. It was widely known that a squinting Ginny was best left unprovoked. She had once hexed second-year Michael Powler for 'looking at her oddly'. Poor Michael had been hexed so badly that madam Pomfrey had been busy with him for more than an hour. Ginny had received a detention. For a second, Ron was sure she was going to explode. Colin had looked oddly in her direction, but he quickly turned around, averting Ginny's baleful stare.

Hermione turned around. She grabbed one of her books and, just before she turned back around, she looked into Ron's eyes. Their eyes lingered upon each other for a moment and Ron noticed a tear running down Hermione's cheek. He smiled at her in an assuring way, which hopefully made Hermione feel a little better. She returned a rather poor attempt at a smile and returned to her former position.

Ron noticed Lavender was sitting at the other side of the room, looking at them in mild interest. She noticed a gossip when she saw one. Ron knew she had been dying to bad-mouth Hermione ever since they had broken up. She had been on the "look-at-the-nerd"-routine for weeks now, since Hermione wasn't giving her much else to insult about. Ron had come to ignore her childish behaviour.

_Why couldn't she have just left him in peace? That know-it-all. She shouldn't have pressed him so hard. If she'd found the book, she'd have used the prince's spells too. Little miss goody-two-shoes! It's not like anybody really needs her to tell them off, or give them advice. She's just still jealous about Harry being better at potions than her._  
Ginny was still muttering under her breath. Hermione's "I-told-you-so" routine had really pissed her off, and it had really pressed a wedge between them. She wasn't going to back off, not today. She felt that Hermione had been unfair to Harry, telling him off for something he was sorry for already.  
_She needs to get her priorities straight. I mean, Hermione is great and all, but she needs to relax more! How are you ever supposed to try out new jinxes or curses if you don't know what they do until you do them?_

Her eyes shot through the Gryffindor common room.  
_If someone so much as looks at me in the wrong way_, Ginny thought, _I'll make sure they'll regret it!_  
Her eyes wheeled passed everyone in the common room. For a second, she thought Colin Creevy was giving her a sour look, but he was merely expressing his displeasure of loosing to his brother in Wizard's chess. Lavender Brown was eyeing them with interest.  
_Just watch it, Lavender Boring, or I'll make you regret it!_

Ginny was starting to feel more than anger and irritation. Hermione was her best friend. She loved to be with her, and discuss things Ginny didn't even tell her mother about (heavens forbid!). It had been Hermione who had taught her the monthly Immaculatus charm and it had been Hermione who had told her about boys. Ginny had always considered Hermione to be her big sister and she was her best friend. And now, she was sitting away from her, glaring in the opposite direction.  
_I hate rowing with Hermione._

Hermione turned around. For a moment, Ginny thought she was going to tell her she was sorry, but all she did was reach for a book. She exchanged a glance with Ron, who was desperately trying to soothe her. He smiled at her. She returned it rather unenthusiastically. Through the bitterness and anger Ginny was feeling, she felt a short stab of happiness. Ron and Hermione were perfect for each other, and Hermione would make a great addition to the Weasley family tree. It was going to be a blast having her as a real sister.  
_Oh wait, I'm still angry at her..._  
Ginny resumed her irritated mood.

Hermione was having trouble hiding her tears by now. Ginny was her best girlfriend. Ginny, whom had told her how to best apply make-up. Ginny, who she had confided about her crush on Ron to first. Hermione was staring at the wall of the common room, but she hadn't really been looking at it. It felt more like she was focusing her eyes on the wall, but not really taking in the picture. The tears in her eyes were certainly not helping her focus.

The cloudy thoughts obscuring her mind were working overtime. Hermione kept trying to calm down, but for some reason, her fight with Ginny was really getting to her. Was their friendship so easily dismissed? Did Ginny not feel the same about their relationship? Tears started to well up again. No matter how much Hermione tried to think happy thoughts, she couldn't keep herself from thinking about her fight with Ginny.

_Maybe I can keep myself from thinking about all this by reading a book_, Hermione thought, _If it doesn't work, at least it will hide my face._  
She turned around and reached for the first book she saw. When she did, she noticed Ron was looking at her intently, trying to get into contact with her. She glanced up into his eyes. Ron was always such a gentleman. He could be crude, he could be irritating, but when push came to shove, Ron was always there for her. He smiled at her in a consolidating way, which made Hermione feel marginally better. She loved him. And she loved his family too. Even Ginny.

Hermione buried herself behind her books. Reading was easy, but constantly having to re-read a line because you only registered half of it makes it annoying. Hermione spent the rest of the evening reading the first three pages of the preface to _Magical Mayhem: A Guide for Wyrd Sisters_.

Colin kept looking passed his brother to the table where Harry and his friends were seated. He had been there when professor McGonagall had told him off. She had spared no mercy on him. They had been fifteen unpleasant minutes, even for him. Still, Harry sat there, looking cheerful for some unknown reason. He had the look of a man who had just been mugged, but had found out being poor wasn't as bad as he'd imagined. He was looking around himself in a cheerful sort of way, which reminded Colin of Harry right after exiting the water at the second task of the Tri-Wizards tournament. He hadn't done what was expected of him, yet somehow it seemed to have been the right thing to do.

In front of Harry were nerdy Hermione Granger and hot Ginny Weasley, both remarkably interesting friends. For some obscure reason, Hermione and Ginny were sitting away from each other, both of them glaring and angry.  
"Ha," Dennis said suddenly, "pawn to C4! There goes your queen and your chances of winning!"  
Colin sighed, and moved his knight in the correct position. He hadn't been thinking about the match for a while now, and to his utter dismay, Dennis had set up the board in two positions from mate.  
"Well done." Colin said politely.

When he looked back at the table, he saw Ginny squinting around the common room. Her eyes darted from face to face, until they stopped at his. He quickly pretended to clean up his chess-pieces. Ginny's eyes shot off further to the left, leaving Colin thanking god she hadn't exploded.

"What do you think they're rowing about?"  
"I don't know. Quidditch?"  
"Nah, Nerdy doesn't like quidditch. Perhaps miss perfect prefect insulted Weasley."  
"I don't think so," Parvati said, "They're really close."  
Lavender bit her lip. What could possibly make those two so angry with each other? Was something going on that she wasn't in on?  
"Maybe she'd insulted his sister."  
"Hah, are you still talking about Hermione Granger? Miss politely innocent? Maybe Ginny's insulted her lover."  
_Merlin_, Lavender thought, _I hate it when I don't know what's going on._  
_I swear I'll find out if those two are together, even if it's the last thing I'll do._

Harry was the first to get up. He picked up his belongings and after saying an unanswered 'Goodnight' left for the dormitories. Ron was left, hoping that Ginny would leave soon. He wanted to soothe Hermione, tell her it was going to be fine tomorrow, like al his rows with Ginny had ended. After sitting in front of the two girls alone for an hour, reading an uninteresting book, he too called it a night. The common room was nearly empty by now, save for the two girls in front of him and Lavender, who was leaving the common room that moment. He looked at both girls, walked passed Hermione and opened his hands. Then, he walked upstairs, to get some sleep.

Hermione saw the small parchment float gently down from his hand onto her lap. It was crumpled and stained, but once smoothed, clearly readable.

_"Dear Hermione,_

_I'm sorry that you and Ginny are rowing, love. Don't worry, she'll have forgotten all about it in the morning._

_- Ron"_

Hermione smiled weakly. She turned around and looked at Ginny.  
"I'm sorry if I was too rough on Harry, but what he did was just plain stupid. I just want to forget about it, and be best friends again."  
She'd said 'best friends' before she'd even realized it. Was Ginny going to laugh at her now?

Ginny turned around too. Her face was still as red as before, but her eyes were looking at Hermione in a completely different way.  
"I never stopped being your best friend Hermione," Ginny said, "And I don't intend on stopping any time soon."

That night, Hermione couldn't sleep. Not out of the pre-game tension of Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw. Not out of excitement. Hermione kept repeating the words Ginny had said just before their hug over and over again in her mind.


	16. Euphoria and Hormones

GO GRYFFINDOR!" Hermione screamed at the top of her voice, "GO RON!" Deafening roars of enthusiasm and tension boomed over the quidditch pitch. Hermione was standing on her seat in one of the foremost rows of the Quidditch stands. She was wearing Harry's red-and-gold Gryffindor shawls. Her voice, as loud as she could make it without the use of the "Sonorus" charm, was drowned in the waves of sound that emanated from the spectators. Above all other voices, the dreamy voice of Luna Lovegood was loudly echoing. Professor McGonagall's voice kept trying to intrude into her lengthy essay about wasps flying in occult shapes with little success when another wave of cheers and boos flooded the auditory channels.

Gryffindor had scored: it was now 110-90 in favour of the Gryffindors. Ron was bobbing on his broomstick in front of the middle hoop. Ravenclaw had definitely been working on their attacks. One of their chasers packed a fierce curve-ball, and another could throw a marvellous fast-ball. Hermione could see Ron was having a hard time defending the hoops. He was sweating again, and now slowly swaying between the goalposts. Hermione knew Ron had been instructed by Harry to do so, because this way, the Ravenclaw chasers couldn't decide what hoop to throw at beforehand. Hermione noticed the small shift in position in one of the chasers; a tiny hand-movement to ensure the quaffle wouldn't slip out of her hands. The chaser stretched her arm and threw the quaffle at the middle hoop. Ron quickly dove forward, catching the quaffle with a free hand. "THAT'S IT RON. YOU'RE DOING GREAT!" Hermione's voice was starting to become grainy because of all the shouting. Whenever she yelled at him, a rasping, edged voice came from her mouth, a tell tale sign of someone losing their voice. She expected all sound to disappear in a few minutes. "GO RON!" she screamed with what was left of her voice, "WEASLEY IS MY KING!"

Three seconds later, another loud chorus of groans and cheers rose up, as the Ravenclaw keeper managed to block Demelza Robins' latest shot. The group of Slytherins in another stand was merrily chanting a rather insulting chorus about the Gryffindors that Hermione was certainly not going to repeat. They were beginning to get a bit anxious though. Gryffindor only needed to score forty more points _and_ get the snitch in order to take the lead in the house tournament. The Hufflepufs that had come to see the game were certainly not amused, as their house had already been overtaken. In the course of another five minutes and five goals, Hermione's voice became more and more edgy, Ravenclaw had overtaken Gryffindor by ten points to 120-130 and Ron had made several great saves.

The match was currently paused, as the Ravenclaw beater Johnson had received a bludger to the head and had fallen off his broom. Hermione was looking at Madam Hooch as she examined the Ravenclaw keeper, when she suddenly felt like she was being watched. She looked at the goal hoops and found Ron there, waving at her merrily. She returned his wave, feeling happy about the fact that Ron had finally overcome his nerves. He was instructing Demelza and Katie to 'give more man-to-man coverage and use Tapenough-passes', whatever that meant. In ten minutes, everything had ended. The Gryffindors had scored another three goals, the Ravenclaws only two. It had been a tie for more than three minutes, wherein both keepers had played crucial parts. Ron managed a superb save that even Luna, who hadn't said anything remotely related to the match, had commented on. The Ravenclaw keeper had made a wrong judgement, causing Gryffindor to retake the lead in the match.

Ginny, who had been practically invisible all match long, suddenly dived down towards the stands. The Ravenclaw seeker dived in after her immediately, knowing she'd seen the snitch. Her Cleansweep Twelve was beginning to overtake Ginny's school broom, a Shooting Star Mark Nine. They plunged down from the air, and the Ravenclaw seeker was speeding away from Ginny rapidly. Ginny lurched her Shooting Star up as soon as he had lost sight of her and started to divert her path to the commentary stands. The Ravenclaw seeker was desperately searching for the snitch that she thought had to be there, while Ginny was closing her fingers on the tiny, winged, golden ball. And with that, the match was over, house-competition had been won, and Hermione's voice finally broke.

The post-match chaos had been enormous. Gryffindors came running up the field, hoisting their champions on their shoulders. Slytherins made their way back to their common room by punching and pounding the disappointed (and now last) Hufflepufs out of the way, and the Ravenclaws were still sitting in the benches, working out their defeat in silent mourning. Hermione had been one of the first that had rushed out onto the field, running up to Ron as fast as she could. She was able to give him a firm hug and a soft kiss on the lips before they were torn apart by the ensuing crowd. Ron looked at her in a blissful way before he was hauled up on two shoulders and paraded around the Quidditch Pitch.

It had taken the exuberant Gryffindors more than half an hour before they left the Quidditch pitch, which only happened because Professor McGonagall had told them the house cup would be awarded in the common room, with or without them. Ron was still being carried around, while Ginny and Katie were sipping on a pint of butterbeer that had been conjured up by an experienced NEWT-grader. Ginny plowed her way through the throng of Gryffindors towards Hermione the moment she saw her. "Has Harry been released from Snape's detention yet?" she asked Hermione quickly, while searching for him in the crowd. Hermione shook her head. She tried to say no, but all that passed her lips was a barky grumble. "I can't wait to give him the good news!"

The awarding of the house cup went by in a haze of emotions and joy. Ron had been fiercely waving the trophy around, while Katie was sitting in the corner of the room, weeping with happiness. Demelza was now openly flirting with two seventh-years while Ginny was still waiting for Harry with unyielding patience. She was sitting next to Hermione and had been talking about telling Harry the good news for more than fifteen minutes. The common room was packed, every Gryffindor, save two, chanting victory songs. The former these two was Hermione, unable to even produce any sound now, the latter had just stepped up in front of the portrait of the fat lady, quietly praying for a good result.

It had happened before Hermione fully realized it. Ginny had stormed off to the portrait hole; the common room had exploded into hurrahs and subsequently died out into silence. Colin and Neville wolf whistled while Ron was standing like a statue, the house cup firmly locked into his hands. For a moment, Hermione was afraid Ron would object, but his approving shrug (if it even was one) meant that Harry and Ginny suddenly had a change of plans. They left the common room together, and Hermione knew by experience that little talking would be involved.

After they had left, she turned to Ron, who was now eyeing the portrait hole in a bemused way. His eyes travelled the room until they looked directly into hers. She looked away. There was something about the way Ron could look into her eyes that made her feel completely insecure about herself. It was not something bad, or odd, but there was a sort of private tension that would build up. She could not look into his eye for more than ten seconds in public places. He knew this of course, and had started to abuse it greatly the last couple of weeks.

Hermione returned her focus on his eyes. He smiled at her lovingly, winked at her and went up the stairs. When Colin had whipped out his camera, he allowed him to take one picture, and then told him he was going to take a shower. Hermione was sitting on Harry's bed. She had looked out over the grounds from the window minutes before, but there was no sign of either him or Ginny. She knew they wouldn't be back for hours though, considering the 'catching up' they had to do. Hermione noticed the red envelope under Ron's pillow again. Her hands moved to it automatically, weighing the envelope and feeling it's texture. She could feel several pieces of paper in it, most of them of uneven size. She was about to open it when she heard Ron's voice from outside of the door. He was animatedly talking about one of his saves to a group of first year students. They were hanging on every word he said, while Hermione quickly shoved the envelope back under the pillow and hid behind Harry's four poster. Hermione was hunched down on the floor behind Harry's bed as the dormitory door slowly opened.

Ron's tall silhouette walked through, obviously not realizing the intruder in the room. Hermione could see him from under the bed, looking around the room to see if anybody was there. He closed the door behind him, locking it with the door's heavy lock. Ron had just left the showers, and all he was wearing was a white towel bearing the Hogwarts crest. He slowly crossed the room, and opened his his trunk. He pulled out a pair of old jeans and the maroon jumper he had gotten from his mother last Christmas. Hermione knew what was coming and closed her eyes. She heard the towel slump on the floor. Curiosity and oestrogen immediately flared up. The laws of nature are unbidden and uncontrollable. Knowing full well that it brushed against all her moral standards, Hermione gave in to her hormones.

She slowly opened her eyes and peered from under Harry's bed at the figure standing in front of her. She was glad her voice had left her, for she was sure her lips would have betrayed her if it hadn't. Hermione gasped for air as the hormones in her body started to work overtime. Ron was now putting on his underwear, still unaware of Hermione's presence. He was merrily humming the tunes in the chorus of "The Weasley Song" while getting into his jumper when there came a loud knock on the door. "Who is it?" Ron asked while quickly getting into his jeans. "It's me, Seamus," said the voice behind the door, "I want to get some of my stuff." Ron walked up to the door while Hermione suddenly realized that Seamus' bed was right behind her. If he came in he would see her behind the bed!

Ron opened the door and a smiling Seamus walked in. He patted Ron on the shoulder. "Great match mate," he said happily, "Some really good saves." Ron flushed red. He quickly picked up the towel and pretended to dry his hair. Hermione saw Seamus approaching from behind Harry's four-poster and was at a loss of what to do. Seamus was coming round the bed and if Hermione didn't make herself invisible soon, he would see her. She rolled under the bed, hoping neither of the boys heard the thump of her elbow on the ground or the creak of the loose floorboard under Harry's bunk.

Seamus' feet came round the bed just after Hermione was able to tuck in the hem of her robe. Apparently not noticing her, he went to his trunk, and pulled out some of the products he had bought at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Hermione could see Ron's feet still standing in the doorway, pointing in her direction. Suddenly, he walked over to his bed, put on his socks and trainers, fiddled with something in his hands and said: "Hang on Seamus, I'll join you downstairs." Seamus closed the lid of his trunk, and walked over to the door while Ron put something on his trunk and then joined him.

Just before Ron and him left the dormitory, Ron paused. "Say Seamus, do you like riddles?" Seamus sounded dumbstruck. "Riddles?" "Yeah, riddles." "Sure" "All right, see if you can figure this out: Science for the faithful, that's what I am. Exactly inexact, conclusively inconclusive. Perhaps that's why you think I'm a sham, Never factly, ever illusive."

"If you want to re-read it," Ron's deep voice said, "I wrote it down on a piece of parchment for you. It's on my trunk." Seamus considered it. "I think I might do it later, I don't want to spend the rest of the party thinking about this." And with that, the door closed.

Hermione got up from under Harry's four-poster. She brushed the dust off that had clung to her robes and walked over to Ron's trunk. She found a piece of parchment there, folded neatly in the middle. On it was the riddle, written in writing as neat as Ron's untidy scrawl would ever be. The red envelope under his pillow was gone. _So you did know I was here._

Hermione suddenly realized that if Ron knew she was there, then he probably knew she was looking at him...


	17. A Different Point of View

The Defence against the Dark Arts classroom was filled with Gryffindors trying to keep up with Snape's long essays on non-verbal spellwork. Lavender, however uninterested in the current subject, was desperately trying to keep up. She had written nearly five foot of notes and annotations about what Snape had said. Her hand was aching, her fingers cramped from holding the quill for so long. She had not been this active in class since before the OWL exams. She was a relatively quick study, something most people didn't expect from her.  
_  
Unlike miss perfect prefect Granger_, she thought bitterly, _I don't feel the need to show everyone how nerdy I am._  
Most people had thought that she would drop out of school after the OWL's had come in; that NEWT-level spellwork would only bore her; that it would be too hard for her. She had heard that Ernie McMillan had made a bet with Terry Boot whether she would or would not come back this year. Ernie had lost.

Lavender felt that getting straight O's wasn't exactly necessary. Getting straight A's was equally acceptable (forgive the pun) and left you with much more outstanding (again, forgive the pun) amount time to relax. Lavender had gotten through five years of Hogwarts like this, and she wasn't going to change this for anybody. She loved passed-time in Hogwarts, either gossiping with her friends or otherwise enjoying the finer benifits of Hogwarts luxury. This had caused people to think of her as a poor student, that had only barely made it through her OWL exams.

Ron and Hermione were seated apart from each other today. Harry, acting as a buffer between them, obviously didn't realize their current relationship. Lavender knew exactly what had happened a few months ago, when both of them came down from the boys' dormitories. They had been snogging. And it had all been _her_ fault. Hermione had never given Ron any attention. Not even when he became interesting as keeper for the Gryffindor team. But when she started dating him, he suddenly became unavailable. In a bout of vengance, Hermione had decided to steal him from her, probably by black-talking her when she wasn't with him. Hermione had tried to keep him with her, desperately clinging on to him as much as she could.

Hermione had won out in the end.  
_Perhaps_, she thought, _Hermione had threatened him. Perhaps she had told him to dump me or he would not be allowed to copy any more notes from her, that daft idiot._

Lavender looked at Ron and Hermione. Both of them were acting quite perculiar this week. She didn't know why, but she was bound to find out soon. She'd been eavesdropping on them during breakfast, lunch, dinner and during classes all week long. Lavender had noticed Hermione's lateness a day after Gryffondor had won the house cup. Hermione, never late, shuffled in at breakfast only at the last moment, staring at her feet all the way to the table and glowing redder than the carapace of a blast-ended skrewt. Ron had been exceptionally quiet all day long, something that barely ever happened.

They'd also had the most peculiar conversations. Lavender and Parvati had been sitting near them in the gryffindor common room a few days later when they'd said this to each other during a game of wizards chess:

**Ron:** "I thought we'd agreed to play a _quick_ game of chess..."  
**Hermione:** "I've got to take some time to weigh out my options."  
**Ron:** "Well, you better tell your pieces to move soon, they're not clairvoyant..."  
**Hermione:** "I know they didn't study _Divination_ like you, Ron."

Ron had said nothing and smiled for a while, after which he'd said "bravo" with a hushed voice. Lavender didn't really understand what they were talking about, but the way Hermione had pronounced Divination, and the reply Ron had given her made her feel they were talking in code. Perhaps they were planning to do something to professor Trelawny.

Right now, they were pretending again. Pretending to be just friends. Pretending nothing had happened between them. All that pretending made Lavender feel more determined to find out if they really were together. She'd have a blast if she could 'expose' them in public. Everyone would know Hermione had stolen her boyfriend. That Hermione had snatched Ron away from her. That Hermione'd.. she'd..  
Lavender tried to calm down, as the anger she'd just felt had made her break her quill. She quickly repaired it magically and continued taking notes. Hermione would get what she deserved for stealing her boyfriend! She'd get what she deserved for stealing Ron without even being in love with him...

A few hours later, Lavender was standing in front of the boys' dormitories, her ear pressed against the oak door that led to the dormitory for the sixth-years. Ron had gone off from dinner early, claiming to be 'suffering from internal malfunctions'. Hermione had left only shortly after he'd left, whispering to Harry that she'd needed to 'read up on horcruxes', whatever those were. Harry didn't pay any attention. He'd had all of it focussed on Ginny at the time, but Lavender thought she knew what was going on. Lavender thought that Ron and Hermione were going to snog someplace quiet. It would be the ideal time for it, as everyone was in the great hall. She'd instantly finished her meal too, following in Ron's footsteps as quickly as she could. She ran up the stairs until she saw him going through the portrait hole.

Now, she was standing outside the boys' dormitories, listening to what Ron was doing. She heard some scratching noises, followed by the tell-tale sounds of a piece of paper being folded. She glanced through the keyhole. Ron was sitting on his bed, still folding a piece of paper. Within a minute, he had folded it into a small paper 'aeroplane'. He whipped out his wand and tapped the paper gently, somewhat like a prod. The paper immediately picked up speed and flew up into the air, where it circled around the dormitory.  
"Ugh," Ron said, "I forgot to open the door."

Lavender saw Ron walking towards her through the keyhole. She fled sideways and ran down the stairs just before Ron pushed the door open. The paper airplane flew out immediately streaking through the air and down a flight of stairs. Lavender was sitting behind one of the big chairs when she noticed Ron wasn't going after it. He'd probably forgotten that the portrait hole was also closed, or perhaps thought that someone else would open it soon enough.  
"Good," Lavender thought, "That'll give me some time to catch it and see what's written on it."  
After several failed attempts and some impressive acrobatics, Lavender finally managed to catch the gliding piece of paper. She eagerly unfolded it, hoping that it would hold some clue or proof of his secret relationship with Hermione. All it said was:

_"Dear Hermione,_

If Yesterday is Tomorrow Today, then what day is Today Tomorrow?

- Ron"

Lavender looked at the piece of parchment in absolute amazement. What did this mean? Was this another coded message? Was this some sort of joke? Was Ron losing his marbles? She looked at the riddle and started to piece it together. If yesterday is tomorrow today, that would mean that today is yesterday tomorrow, so today would be..  
She gave up after about half a minute of puzzlement. She folded the message back again and decided to let it continue it's journey. It was only after whipping out her wand that she realized she didn't know the spell to make it fly. She knew Ron's dad had probably shown him how to do it, as it was common knowledge that flying notes were most commonly used in the Ministry of Magic. Lavender had broken the enchantment though, and it had dissipated completely.  
_There's only one way to solve this now,_ she thought, _and it's going to be risky._

Hermione was sitting in the library, several big black books on her table, most of them opened halfway through. They looked old, with shabby, thin pages and flithy covers. Most of them were written in red ink. She wasn't reading in them though, she was simply doodling in her notebook, in an absent minded way. Lavender was standing some distance behind her, pretending to be interested in one of the big bookstands in the library. She was cluching the paper aeroplane in her right hand, ready to throw it at her, when Hermione suddenly stood up to return one of the big grimoires. She closed her notebook and hid it underneath the pile of books.

Lavender didn't wait for long. The moment Hermione had strutted off, Lavender snatched the notebook from under the pile of books and flipped it open. Glancing over the pages quickly, she noticed a few references to books in the dark arts section, some references to some prince, but so many small doodles of her and Ron that they completely dwarfed everything else. She'd filled pages upon pages with drawings of hearts, arrows and especially his name. She'd tried to draw his face on several pages, using different colors of pencils. Most of them resembled him only in a marginal way.  
_Ha_, Lavender thought, _finally something Miss prefect Prefect isn't good in. Still, this does seem like she really fancies him._  
As she flipped further in the notebook, she saw riddles. Most of them were unfinished and quite poorly constructed, but there were some good ones too. Most of them were about love or love potions. "Amortentia" was written on one of the pages in big loopy letters.  
_She couldn't have..._

The riddles changed halfway through, from being put together, to being taken apart. The words "Tower", "Clock", "Twelve" and "Divination", followed by "A complete list of things relating to each hint". It was empty. Lavender would have loved to read all the pages in the book, but since Hermione could be back any minute now, she didn't have the time to do so. She put the notebook back under the books and ran back behind the archive. As expected, Hermione was back within a minute, clutching another three black covered books. She put them down and started to flip through the pages again.

Lavender took the opportunity to vent some bottled up agression. She threw the airplane in smooth, quick way. It followed its trajectory and hit Hermione on the head.  
"Ow," Hermione said, looking down to see what had hit her.  
She picked up the piece of now crumpled paper, fervently look around to find who had thrown it. Lavender, who had spent enough time sneaking around people for gossip, knew she had to move, and had done so before Hermione had looked into her direction. She was now safely ducking behind a table three rows behind Hermione's, listening intently to hear what she'd have to say about the riddle.  
"Tomorrow," Hermione said moments later, "That was easy enough.."  
She scratched something on one of the few empty pages in her notebook, folded the paper into a plane and prodded it forward. It flew away at once. Lavender was about to leave her hiding place to follow it, when Hermione suddenly mumbled something.  
"So that's Tower, Clock, Twelve, Divination and Tomorrow. I still don't see any connection..."  
Lavender cautiously peered over the desk, taking great care in not being seen. She saw Hermione writing down the words she had just said on individual pieces of paper.  
"What does a tower have to do with Divination, or Twelve with Tomorrow?" Hermione uttered deeply in thought. She began moving the words around the table, trying to connect any words that had any meaning.  
"Clock and Twelve might belong together," she faintly said, "and perhaps Tower and Tomorrow belong together.."  
Lavender slowly shuffled back. Hermione was apparently deeply in trance, she thought, probably not noticing her anyways.

It's funny how even the most deeply hypnotized or entranced people seem to snap out of their bubble of thought when somebody walks into a bookcase. Lavender, creeping slowly backwards, had tripped over het robes and fell spread-eagled against it. Several big books belonging to "Interesting Goblin Wars, Vol. 14 to 31" fell down on her. Hermione quickly grabbed the pieces of parchment together and stuffed them under her books.  
"Are you okay, Lavender?" she asked.  
"I'M FINE, Thank you very much!" Lavender retorted angrily, "I think I'm quite old enough to help myself."  
Hermione snorted, signalling her disagreement. Lavender stormed out of the library, fuming with rage.

She hadn't crossed two alleys when she heared Hermione suddenly scream: "Ofcourse, how could I not have seen it? All it needed was a different point of view!"  
Lavender was boiling with anger. She was angry about Hermione, but mostly about herself.  
_Was she really in love with him all along?_, she thought, _Had she really fancied him all these years?_  
Lavender felt stupid; not because she'd mistakenly thought Hermione had threatened Ron to leave her, nor about her erraneous thoughts on Hermione having used love potion on Ron. She was angry with herself, for not noticing it before. She couldn't wait to tell Parvati...


	18. A Midnight Feast

Hermione was putting the finishing touches on her hair with Ginny. She'd raced out to find her immediately after discovering the answer to Ron's riddles and she was as excited as Hermione was. There was only one hour to go before she'd have to be up there.  
"What do you think he's prepared?" Ginny said, while brushing Hermione's hair, "Knowing him it could just be a late-night quidditch match."  
Hermione smiled. "Knowing Ron, It'll probably be something unexpected."  
Ginny sighed deeply. "I wish _my_ boyfriend was that romantic."  
The two girls grinned at each other in the mirror, and then continued their work. Hermione had spent more than an hour putting on rouge and mascara. Ginny's impressive collection of make-up was cluttered over the bathroom floor by now, combined with an enormous mountain of make-up Ginny had borrowed from friends.

Ginny had proven her expertise in make-up by showing Hermione what colours best suited her complexion and how to apply the make-up in an efficient way without it being noticeable. They'd spent hours in the bathroom by now, working on several parts of Hermione's appearance. Ginny had even taken up the quest of combing and taming Hermione's wild hair.  
"I told you," Hermione said in an amused way after Ginny had cursed her hair under her breath, "There's just no way of getting through it."  
Ginny snorted. "I'll get this hair sorted out even if it's the last thing I do! All there really is to it is keeping your patience and working from the bottom up."  
And indeed, after half an hour of combing, cursing and chatting, Hermione could do nothing else but be in awe of Ginny's achievements. Her hair, normally frizzy and bushy, was now perfectly combed. It still was bushy, but in a controlled sort of way. Most of the individual hairs that normally stuck out of her bushy mane (causing the frizzy look) were now in check with the rest. Ginny looked at her achievements and sighed.  
"I wish I had hair like that", she dreamed, "My hair sucks."  
Hermione snorted. "Trust me, there is such a thing as too much volume. It's the reason I don't spend a lot of time in front of the mirror. It just has no use."

After getting the hair straightened out and the make-up applied, it was time to get dressed. Hermione had wanted to go to the divination tower in her school robes, but Ginny absolutely forbade it.  
"If you want to make it a night to remember," she'd said knowingly, "you'll have to dress to impress."  
Ginny had borrowed a dress for her, though she wouldn't tell Hermione to who it had belonged. All she had said was that it was red and would suit her perfectly. It hung on one of the bathroom doors, wrapped neatly in its sheath. Hermione had tried to peek inside it before, but Ginny had unfortunately noticed her, and told her off for nearly ruining the surprise.  
"Shouldn't we have done my hair _after_ I put on the dress?" Hermione asked hesitantly. Her experiences with dress robes were quite limited, and the dress she'd worn on the Yule Ball had been a pain to get into.  
"Don't worry," Ginny said in a secretive way, "This dress doesn't go over you head, you step into it..."

Ten minutes later, Hermione stood in front of the mirror and felt rather ashamed. Ginny was wolf-whistling at her, a content smile on her face.  
"Who's dress was this?" Hermione said while looking at it, "It's so.."  
"Revealing?" Ginny added quickly.  
"Yeah. Not in a bad way, mind."  
The dress was made out of a flaming red silk, that tightly followed the contours of her body. The waist part curved in slightly, accentuating Hermione's hourglass waist. The dress ran down from there to about her knees, with a high split in the side. Then there was the top part. Although Hermione had never really given it much thought, the dress's top part was a push up, which currently offered two round and attractive benefits that normally weren't visible in the Hogwarts dress robes. The dress stopped there, leaving her shoulders, her arms and a large part of her back and chest exposed.  
"I can't wear this. This is way too… open for me!"  
Ginny was looking at her in a bemused way.  
"I bet I could find a necklace that would look absolutely stunning with this dress."  
"Didn't you hear me Ginny?" Hermione pleaded, "This dress is way too sexy."  
"Nonsense, you finally look like a proper seventeen-year old", Ginny said, "Ron will be speechless."  
The thought of Ron ogling over her like that, Hermione thought in a deep, hidden part of her brain, was quite interesting. Surely the low cleavage and high split in the dress were going to make Ron a happy man.  
"About that necklace..."

Hermione, having 'borrowed' Harry's invisibility cloak, was creeping down the stairs of the girls' dormitories. The common room was relatively calm, as it was now nearing twelve 'o clock. She slipped between everyone and, when Ginny pretended to go out for a snack, slipped through the portrait hole with her. It was about a ten minutes walk to the divination tower, and with fifteen minutes left, she'd better hurry. She wanted to be sure she was on time.  
"Don't forget to have a good time," Ginny said, "Don't let your nerves get in the way of that. He's probably just as nervous as you. It was the same for me and Harry after the match."  
Hermione started threading up the stairs, inwardly praying they weren't going to have any fights tonight.

Ten minutes later, Hermione slowly walked up the staircase to the divination tower. Her heart was pounding in her throat; small beads of sweat were forming on her forehead; a feeling of dizziness starting to take over. Even taking on a mountain troll would have made her less nervous, because she'd know what to do. This, love, was all new to her, and she couldn't rely on books to help her through. She was nearly up the stairs when she saw Ron. He was standing at the top of the stairs, wearing his dress robes and smiling at her nervously.  
_Merlin, I forgot how good he looks in those new dress robes. Fred and George really bought some quality robes for him,_ Hermione thought secretly, while walking up the last few steps. Ron had gotten them a while ago, in compensation for the heinous atrocity he'd worn to the Yule Ball. His new dress robes were of outstanding quality and suited him well. The dark clothing highlighted his eyes and his hair, the two parts of his body Hermione loved best. The beige shirt underneath, his white and gold bow tie and the brass cuff links, everything enhanced the picture of Ron as a gallant man.  
"Good afternoon, milady" Ron began in a fake posh accent, "I would like to welcome yea to the tower of divinations, where we shall share a delightful midnight feast. I hope you brought your appetite."  
Hermione chuckled and looked into his eyes. To an outsider, they might have just resembled two kids, standing there, looking at each other for half a minute in uncomfortable silence, but an insider would have felt the fire and passion that flamed between their longing eyes. Hermione felt herself wanting to pull Ron close and never let him go. She felt the insatiable urge to cave in on him, finally giving in on her emotions (not to mention hormones). She'd wanted tonight more than anything in the world. For years now, she'd dreamt only of him. After half a minute, Ron broke the uncomfortable silence by pulling down the trap door that lead to the divination classroom. He beckoned her up before him, in an effort to be gallant.

Seeing the divination tower had never been this interesting. Ron had installed several candles in tactical places, and had lit several of the lamps that hung from the ceiling. The room was clothed in it normal colors, red and purple, but the candlelight made it seem like everything was different. The stuffy age-old air that Hermione had come to associate with the classroom had vanished, replaced with a fresher one. One that made her realize just how pretty the room actually was.  
"I'm glad you came, love." Ron was standing behind her, his lips close to her ears, whispering to her in a way that made her feel like her knees were going to buckle. Hermione smiled and turned around.  
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Ron smiled at her and looked into her chocolate eyes. She noticed him drawing closer, his lips barely two inches away from hers. Hermione could feel his warm breath on her face, as she slowly closed the gap to his mouth. They'd kissed a dozen times by now, every time in complete secrecy. They'd shared several toilet bowls, empty classrooms and even a deserted corner of the library by now, and the divination tower was moments away from joining the list. As Ron's lips came closer and closer, she remembered their first kiss, after Ron broke up with Lavender. It had felt perfect, exactly like she'd always hoped it would be. The burning desire to kiss Ron had been fuelled for more than a year and when her lips and tongue finally found his, that desire had burned with unparalleled intensity. It was like nothing she'd ever felt before.

Even now, many secret-filled months later, she still felt like this kiss would be their first. Hermione hoped every kiss they would ever share would feel just like that, so passionate and delicate that the mere thought of it made her heart ache with desire and lust.  
"Shall we begin?" Ron said, suddenly walking away from her.  
Hermione was sure he'd felt that urge to kiss too. She was sure Ron would have wanted nothing else but to kiss her.  
_"Is he playing hard-to-get?"_

The dinner table was set up in the middle of the room. It was the round table she'd seen in the room of requirement. It was furnished in a red tablecloth, holding a set of plates and candles. Pieces of cutlery engraved with the Hogwarts crest were neatly ordered beside each plate. There was a big set of them, including five forks, four knives and as much as three spoons. Each of them was polished and shimmered brightly in the dim light of the divination tower torches and the three candles in the middle of the table. Ron pulled one of the chairs back for Hermione to sit on. She tried to do so in an elegant way, during which the split in her dress opened up and revealed much of her thigh. Ron pretended not to have noticed it, but when he sat down, Hermione noticed that slight twitch in the corner of his mouth that always betrayed him in moments like these.

The origami dragon sitting on her plate began eyeing her curiously, slowly walking forward towards Hermione.  
"This one doesn't seem to be guarding anything." Hermione said, after stroking the dragon's snout.  
"These are Czechian Firebellies, they breed in the winter," Ron replied after sitting down on his own chair, "I hope you're feeling hungry, you know how the house elves can get when they have the chance to cook for someone."  
Hermione smiled. This was not the time for a debate about house elf rights. Besides, they did seem to enjoy cooking for humans…

Ron picked up a small bell that had been placed beside his plate. It had a light and high tingly sound, immediately followed by the appearance of a shrimp cocktail on both their plates. The Czechian Firebellies franticly jumped aside in confusion, both of them tumbling off the side of their plate. Hermione was about to pick up a knife and fork, but noticed the diversity of her choice.  
"Uhm, Ron?" Hermione asked hesitantly, "What fork and knife should I use to eat this?"  
Ron smiled. "You work from the outside in," he said, "but a shrimp cocktail is generally eaten with a spoon."  
"Great," Hermione thought, "couldn't I have just waited for him to pick up the spoon instead of making a fool out of myself?"

Two and a half courses later, both Hermione and Ron were enjoying their main course. Hermione had eaten most of her 'Tournedeau de Chevreuil aux Myrtilles', when she realized what was happening. While Ron and her had been in a deep discussion about what had happened this year, and Hermione suddenly realized what a great time she was having. Ron and her were talking animatedly, while she was absent-mindedly rubbing her feet against his. Ron was positively beaming at her, obviously enjoying the moment just as much as she did.  
"The Burrow", Ron suddenly said.  
"What about the Burrow?"  
"It was the word you wrote on my birthday present. It took me quite some time to realize what it meant. But when I did, I realized the enormity of it. I want to tell you the answer to all the riddles."  
"Yes?"  
"In our first day of the year, during potions, professor Slughorn had brewed up those four potions. The first was on the Slytherin table; Veritaserum. The second, on the Ravenclaw table, was Polyjuice Potion. On Slughorn's desk was the Felix Felicis, but the most important one that day was right in front of us, on the Gryffindor table. You see, when I sat down, I smelled three things. The first was my favourite snack, a cress and eggs sandwich. The second was the smell of my bed back home. The third scent was a smell that I swore I would never tell anyone about. You see... I smelled you, or, more specifically, the perfume you wear."  
Ron looked at her slight bewilderment. Hermione knew how long he had wanted to tell her this. She knew how much he had wanted to share his secret, because she had wanted to share hers for just as long.  
"It was the third scent you smelled that day, Hermione. The third scent you smelled was the Burrow."

Hermione nodded. A part of her felt embarrassed to tell him this. She had hidden her feelings for Ron for so long now, that it felt odd to be able to talk to him about it. It felt like talking to a stranger you have known your entire life. A stranger you had talked to every day of your life, come to know through and through, yet who still was a stranger. Hermione knew more about Ron than anyone else. She knew his hopes and fears, his wishes, opinions and she was pretty sure about she could guess about his dreams too. Yet for the first night in all their time together, she felt she could tell Ron anything. Which quite naturally meant she couldn't find the words to say anything. All she could do was stare into those blue eyes and smile.

"Hermione?"  
"Yes?"  
"I love you. I know my feelings for you aren't just a crush or school fling, because I outgrew those long ago. I want to ask you something. Something I should have asked you a long time ago. Something I should have asked you before, but never found the courage for. Something I have wanted to ask you for years."  
"What do you want to ask?"  
Ron stood up from his chair. Visibly nervous, he slipped down beside her and, sitting onto one knee, took her right hand.  
"Hermione Granger," he said in nothing more than the slightest of whispers, "It would be the greatest honour in my life, if you would like to be my girlfriend."  
The feelings Hermione had felt all night long resembled an emotional flat-liner compared to the emotions that the adrenaline, euphoria and hormones coursing her body were now freely flooding her mind with. Hermione wrapped her arms around Ron's head and tugged him in close. Ron's head, pressed against her bosom, was slowly turning red as he struggled to get out from her suffocating grasp.  
"...Hmmpf!" Ron murmured, while patting Hermione on the back.  
"...HMMPF!"  
Unfortunately for Ron, Hermione only noticed his struggle the third attempt, when his pat became a bit harder and his muffled yells became more like a plead for life than an inaudible mumble. When she let a red-faced Ron go, she smiled at him hopefully.  
"I'm starting to realize why I didn't ask you earlier..." Ron jested merrily, after taking his seat again.

The two lovers finished their dinner and, after eating desert and fantasizing about their future, decided to call it a night. Ron ringed the small bell twice and the left-overs, cutlery and plates all vanished instantly. Ron then whipped out his wand and transmuted the table back to its original form, one of the pouffes that littered the ground of the divination tower. Hermione, having taken out her wand too, vanished the extra candles that Ron had lit.  
"Looks like everything is back to normal again", Ron said, "Let's get going before Trelawny returns."  
Hermione took his arm and, fingers intertwined, headed down the tower, back to the Gryffindor common room.  
"Ron?" Hermione asked hesitantly, "What are we going to say to Harry?"  
"The truth I guess. We'll break it to him slowly tomorrow evening."  
"That means we've got _just one_ more day of _secrecy_ left." Hermione made sure to put the emphasis on the right words, knowing Ron would understand the double meaning of it.

Once downstairs, Hermione went to the statues of "The Maid, the Mother, and the Crone" to retrieve Harry's invisibility cloak. She was reaching behind the back of the crone when Ron suddenly picked her up and shoved her behind the statues. His hand covered her mouth and he held her tightly in his grasp, pinning her against the wall to make sure she couldn't get away. With a free hand, he quickly threw the invisibility cloak over them both. She looked into his eyes to see him looking distressed.  
_What are you doing?_ Hermione thought. For a second, a horrible thought had entered her mind, but she blew it off immediately. _Ron surely wouldn't do that to me..._

Hermione noticed what was wrong when she heard Trelawny walking in the corridor. Hearing the tell-tale slapping of her flip-flops on the flagstones, Hermione noticed Ron had effectively hidden both her and himself from her sight. She could hear Trelawny muttering curses under her breath.  
"The nerve of that man!" she suddenly exclaimed to no one in particular, "How dare he ignore the obvious warnings my inner eye has revealed! No good can come from this, no good!"

When Ron and Hermione finally reached the Gryffindor common room and removed the invisibility cloak, both of them were yawning with sleep. It was three o'clock by now, and so they decided to call it a night. After sharing a long and passionate kiss, which ended on one of the chairs in front of the fire, both of them went up to their own dormitory. Hermione shuffled along the deserted staircase, when one of the doors suddenly opened. Ginny Weasley pulled Hermione into the lavatories.  
"I want to hear everything," she chanted, "From the moment you went through the portrait hole until the moment you went up the dormitories. And don't forget to share the juicy parts!"

One hour later, Hermione was finally out of the red dress Ginny had found for her. Although it was heaven to see Ron looking at her in 'that way', she'd started to feel rather out of character in it.  
_Ron will just have to do with me in my school robes,_ she thought amusingly, _before he sees me in anything else. Or anything less for that matter..._  
She was about to step into bed when she noticed her pillow was upside-down. Underneath it was a red envelope with her name on it, written in the neatest way Ron could write it. She'd seen it twice before, and on both occasions hadn't opened it. Now, she slid her finger across the opening, revealing the content of it.  
_Ron!_, she thought, _You romantic little devil!_  
In the envelope were the five riddles she'd thought up for him and the five riddles he'd devised for her. There was a small parchment added behind the last:

_"Dear Hermione,_

_If you read this parchment, that means we're finally together. I can't tell you how much I've wanted this to happen. I love you. My feelings for you are not just a crush or a fling, I outgrew that years ago. What I feel for you is love. I've enclosed the original version of each riddle, so we can look back on our secret days together at Hogwarts._

_- Ron"_


	19. Tomorrow

_"When is that prat ever going to show up?"_, Ron thought feverishly. He was nervously drumming his fingers on the side of the chair, while his heel was tapping on the floor. If he'd been nervous to ask Hermione to be his girlfriend, than he was on the verge of a mental breakdown now. Telling your best friend you're in a romantic relationship with his other best friend was hard enough as it is, but having to tell him you'd been snogging and dating behind his back was about as hard as riding on the back of a hippogryff that's sixteen months pregnant.  
"Can't we just keep it from him a little longer?" he pleaded ruefully, "Like, say... forever?"  
Hermione grinned at him in an amused way.  
"No Ron," she said definitively, "What if he hears it from someone else? He ought to be the second person to know, we owe him that much. When he gets back from Dumbledore's office, we'll tell him everything."  
"Second person, huh?" Ron asked, "Meaning you've already told someone?"  
Hermione turned scarlet. He knew the name before she said it.  
"Ginny"  
"You two really have grown together these last few weeks, haven't you?"  
Hermione nodded enthusiastically, explaining to Ron about her preparations of the previous night. Hermione had wanted to look as attractive as possible and had, quite naturally, sought out Ginny. She told Ron about the four hours of preparations, the borrowed dress and the taming of her hair.  
"Ginny did a good job then", Ron thought to himself, "Because you looked ravishing last night. A tight, sexy dress that accentuated your lovely figure, the dark mascara that brought out the hazel in your eyes and did I mention the sexy dress?"  
Ron's only complaint was that her hair seemed to be a bit... tame. Hermione had bunched it all together in a neat ponytail, but Ron liked it more when it was frizzy and bushy. Hermione's normal coup of curly brown hair seemed to be returning though. Ron expected that Hermione had probably spent quite some time in front of the mirror, trying to get it straightened out.

Suddenly, the portrait hole opened and a white-faced boy came running through.  
"Harry!", Hermione said immediately, after nudging Ron in his side for staring at her, "What does Dumbledore want? Harry, are you OK?"  
"I'm fine," he said while storming through the common room. Ron saw him dashing up the stairs to the boys' dormitories, striding four steps at a time. Ron looked at Hermione, who looked back at him with the same gaze of clueless amazement. Before they had time to react though, Harry came gliding down the stairs, leaping from the fifth step and pouncing his way through the common room.  
"I haven't got much time," Harry panted, "Dumbledore thinks I'm getting my Invisibility Cloak. Listen..."

Harry's next monologue led him from the moment he heard Trelawny's yell to Dumbledore's request. He instructed them both to guard Hogwarts and keep an eye out for Snape. He had pushed the Felix Felicis into Ron's hands, told them to distribute it amongs themselves and Ginny and to keep themselves safe. Seconds later, Ron was standing in the middle of the common room, holding a phial of Felix Felicis in a bunch of socks, thinking that his 'important' message to Harry had just become a rather irrelevant. Both he, Hermione, Ginny and everyone else that cared had to be on alert.  
"Listen Hermione", he said, snapping out of his confusion, "Go and fetch Ginny. We've got at least ten minutes before anything bad might start to happen. On the way back, explain what has happened and what we're supposed to do."  
Hermione nodded and stood up, ready to depart. Before she did, she rummaged through one of the pockets of her robes and pulled out a galleon.  
"I kept this with me as a good luck charm," she said, "Do you know how to do the spell that changes the date?"  
"Yes, I do. It's the protean charm.", replied Ron honestly.  
"Inform the DA. We need every wand we can get."

A few minutes later, Ron was sitting in his dormitory, holding the small phial of Felix in his hands.  
"Less than half of it is left," he thought, "And we'll have to split it threeways. If the full potion will work for twelve hours on one person, than less than half of it split in three might makea the effect last for two hours. That's never going to be enough! What if Harry and Dumbledore take all night, and something happens after the potion has worked out?"  
Ron looked at the clock. Five minutes had already passed since Harry stormed out of the common room to join Dumbledore. Hermione and Ginny were surely going to come by soon.  
"We need a way to maximize the effects of the potion," Ron thought, as he tried to think of a solution. His eyes darted across the room as they always did when he was thinking hard. They lingered on the box of chocolate caulderons he had gotten from Fred and George. It had been 'a late birthday present' from the twins. Ron hadn't even touched the box. The mere thought of the candy was quite enough to quench his appetite for two weeks. Now however, his mind was racing, and their morbid joke suddenly held potential.  
"If I tip the dosage of Felix into the caulderon cakes," Ron reasoned, "then we can all take one with us. We'll be able to take the Felix anytime we want."  
It was so simple. Making a Felixed caulderon would take no time at all, and to get a dose of luck, one of them would only need to eat it up when they feel they need it.

Ron opened the bottle of Felix Felicis and was about to divide it into three when he suddenly stopped.  
"What if it still isn't enough?" he thought miserably, "What if the Felix runs out during the battle?"  
Ron divided the potion in three, making sure both Ginny and Hermione recieved far more of the potion than he did. He guessed that he'd run out of luck at least an hour before either of the girls would, but the risk was worth it. At least this way, he would be sure he wouldn't have to bury either his sister or his lover. Both of them meant too much to him.

Ron poured the the contents of the three bottles into each of the three chocolate caulderons. Then, he stuffed his own caulderon into his robes, ready to eat it when the moment would be there. He turned around to hear two sets of feet running up the stairs. Hermione flung the door open wildly, her brown eyes set with fear. Ginny stormed in after her, a look of grim determination in her eyes. Hermione looked at the empty bottle of Felix Felicis.  
"Where's the potion, Ron?" she asked desperately. Suddenly, a look of terror flamed into her eyes.  
"Tell me you didn't spill it Ron. Tell me you didn't spill it over the bed!"  
A small thought of anger entered Ron's mind. Hermione's conclusion of Ron being unable to handle a potion would normally have caused a big row, but seeing as this was their first day together and this not being the moment to pick a fight, Ron swallowed his anger and told Hermione of his plan.  
"Oh!" Hermione said in a relieved way, "Well, that's actually a quite a good idea."  
Both of the girls grabbed their Felixed caulderon, examining them carefully.  
"Listen up you two," Ron said, "Don't waste the caulderon by eating it too early. Save it for when you're sure you're going to need it."  
Hermione nodded. "How long do you think it will last?"  
Ron shrugged. "I don't know for sure. Perhaps a few hours. Have you heard from any of the DA yet?"  
"No," Hermione replied, "but if any of them are coming, they'll probably be waiting outside the Room of Requirement."  
"Than we'd better get going," Ginny said in a determined way, "we don't want to be late."

Ten minutes later, Ron was standing in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Bewildered. Hermione and Ginny were both fumbling their pockets, constantly checking the Felixed Caulderons like Ron did. Neville had arrived moments before, joined by Luna.  
"I don't understand the message," Neville said to Ron, "and where's Harry?"  
Ron had altered the original galleon, by enscribing the sides with the words: 'DA needed! Possible attack on H!'. He'd loved to inscribe more onto the side of the coin, but there just wasn't any room left.  
"Harry isn't coming." Ron tried to explain, "Dumbledore left with him, and Harry is afraid the Death Eaters are going to attack the school tonight."  
It took Ron a few minutes to explain the situation to Neville and Luna. He'd left out the finer details, but Neville and Luna trusted him enough to accept the story for now.  
"I say we split up," Hermione said with a twinge of fear in her voice, "Two of us go down to Snape's office to keep an eye on him, the others guard the corridor."  
Luna immediately volunteered for the job, much to the dismay of Hermione. Ron noticed she'd probably hoped Ginny or himself would volunteer. Luna pulled her wand from behind her ear and nodded to Hermione in a way that signalled she was ready to go. For a moment, Ron looked Hermione into the eyes. Her eyes were wide and round in fear, her pupils dialated by adrenaline.  
"Don't worry, my love," he said, trying to keep his voice from sounding troubled, "with some luck, this won't be the last time we'll see each other."  
Hermione lunged forward, hugged Ron tightly and kissed his neck.  
"You'd better be alive when I next see you," she whispered softly in his ears, "because I'll kill you if you die on me.."

Hermione and Luna left moments later, leaving a gigling Ginny and a nunplussed Neville behind.  
"Ron," he said in a mystified way, "how long have you and Hermione been together?"  
Ron didn't answer. He was still fumbling the the Felixed Chocolate Caulderon in his pocket. Hermione certainly seemed to have found some solace in his words, but it was convincing himself that proved to be hardest. Would he see her again? Was the kiss she'd given him in his neck the last he'd ever recieve from her, or anyone for that matter? Time seemed to stand still in the corridor with Ginny and Neville. Each of the three was locked in their own thoughts, Ron's about Hermione's well-being, Ginny about what was happening to Harry, and Neville about the spells he'd learnt with the DA. Ron pulled out the marauders' map to check on Hermione every so often. Every time, the map showed her sitting outside Snape's office with Luna. After about fourty-five minutes of silently guarding the door though, each of them snapped out of their thought bubbles by the characteristic 'koggh' sound the door of the room of requirement made when it reappeared.

Ron's fingers curled around both the wand in his hand and the Felixed Caulderon in his pocket. The door slowly slid further open and Malfoy's pale hair was the first thing to pop out of it. Ron immediately recognised the thing he was holding as the Hand of Glory. Malfoy himself wasn't unobservant too. The moment he saw the two weasley siblings and Neville, he threw something up in the air.

It was like someone had taken an eraser and had wiped away everything he saw, leaving nothing but an all-consuming blackness. Ron could hear more shuffling feet and heavy breathing than Draco alone would be able to produce. While he was groping around in the dark, Ron realized the danger he was in of being attacked and quickly pulled his hand out of his pocket and stuffed the content of it in his mouth. Beside him, he heard Ginny shouting "Lumos", "Incendiary" and "Innoculus".  
"Something is definately wrong," he thought, "I guess I'm going to need some extra protection for the next few hours."  
His lips and tongue tasted the sweet, rich flavour of the pure chocolate. He felt the caulderon melting between his teeth as he chewed on it in an efford to swallow it faster. Ron was also still groping around in the dark. When he'd felt the piece of blowing gum that was put on the troll in the size 34 tutu by some humorous prankster he knew where to go. As he felt parts of the chocolate in his mouth crumbling to smaller pieces, his fingers found the familiar long hair that belonged to Ginny.  
"Winniw! Fowwow me!", he said, his mouth still full of caulderon. Neville seemed to be walking ahead of them, grasping the darkness while stumbling along.

When they nearly reached the end of the corridor, some of the moonlight filtered through the veil of darkness that had been wrapped around them. Ron began seeing the outlines of the torches and windows in the massive stone walls that made up Hogwarts. He was finally able to swallow his caulderon. A surge of confidence and determination ran through his body, starting in his stomach and slowly working it's way out to his skin. It was an undescribable feeling, that ended with the hairs on his skin standing on end and each of his senses tingling with a warm, glowy feeling.  
"What do we do now?" Neville said as he squinted to see Ron and Ginny.  
Ron was about to suggest splitting up, when a voice, just beyond hearing, advised against it.  
"Ginny," he asked quickly, "do you feel like running to the corridor on..."  
"...the fourth floor?" she answered quickly, her teeth still brown with chocolate, "Yes. There's no time..."  
"...to lose?" Ron added after her. It was obvious Felix was hinting at both of them. Why the potion wanted them to run _away_ from the death eaters was still beyond him, but a strong, positive feeling that running there would be of great help.  
"Is this some kind of weird brother and sister thing?" Neville asked with a hint of bewilderment in his voice, "And why are you both eating chocolate?"  
"There's no time to explain, Neville," Ginny said firmly, "We need to move now!"

They were running through the corridor on the sixth floor, heading in the direction of the stairwell, when Ron suddenly made a ninety degree turn. To Ginny and Neville, it must have seemed like he was heading straight to the wall, but the voice in the back of his head had spurred him aside. "_Shortcut!_", it had screamed in his ears deafeningly, though it's voice was too faint to be heard. Ron closed his eyes. If he were to trust Felix completely, he'd better not start thinking about what he was doing. Ginny had made a hard turn too, pulling Neville with her. Ron could hear Neville protesting as the wall came inches from his body.

Three seconds later, Ron appeared on the fourth floor. The wall had seemed to be solid rock, but it had in fact been a hidden doorway. Ron had hurtled through it at great speed and was now, after being joined by a weezing Ginny and a sputtering Neville, standing in the middle of the fourth floor corridor. Lupin was there, along with Bill, Tonks and professor McGonagall.  
"Why I never!" McGonagall chorted, "Three Gryffindors out of bed at this hour! This means detention."  
Ron looked at Lupin. His eyes were set deeper than he had ever seen them. His clothes were more ragged and torn and shabby than they had ever seen them. Before he'd opened his mouth, Lupin understood what he was about to say.  
"Death Eaters!" Ron panted, still breathing heavily because of the sprint he had just made, "In school!"  
He was about to run down and try to find them, when Lupin told him to stop.  
"Tell us what happened," Lupin said calmly, "Don't leave out details."

In what felt like an eternity, Ron recited what had happened. Felix was constantly supplying him with the most efficient sentances to summarize the events, causing Ron's dialogue to be short and snappy. Ginny was standing next to him, in mute silence, eyes filled with fear, yet also filled with that hard determination. Bill, standing in front of her, had taken hold of his sister's shoulders in a brotherly sort of way, trying to put her at ease. After Ron had said everything Felix had made him think of, Lupin pulled out his wand and simply said: "There's no time to lose now."  
Then, a silvery wolf-like creature erupted from his wand, running down the corridors.

He turned around and together, they ran down to the third floor corridor. Lupin took a left-hand turn at the stairwell, where Ron would normally have gone right, in order to descend the stairs. Felix was whispering in his ears though, and telling him to follow Lupin. McGonagall, Bill, Tonks and Neville each stopped running in amazement as Lupin started to polish one of the apples on a painting of fruit. It shone brightly for a second, then turned red. A secret passageway opened up, revealing a stairway down.  
"This is faster," Lupin said, "From what you've told me, I think they're headed for the astronomy tower. It's the only thing that's interesting in that direction."  
One by one, they shot down the stairwell, a small, rotating one that was just big enough for one person, but just wide enough to be able to run down it quickly.  
"Do you know every secret passage way in Hogwarts, Remus?", Professor McGonagall yelled down as they thundered down the stairs.  
"Apparently not," he replied hastily, "Because I haven't got a clue how your students just appeared in the middle of the corridor."  
Ron, meanwhile was having trouble focussing his mind on the job at hand.  
_Hermione is still out there_, he thought, _What if she hasn't taken the Felix yet and the Death Eaters take her by surprise_?  
Lupin, running ahead of the others, suddenly opened one of the doors and held it open for the rest. He was quickly followed by Bill who sprinted out of the doorway, his wand held out in front of him. The stairwell had taken them directly to the corridor leading to the Astronomy Tower. Just after Ron had emerged from the tower and without warning, a big black shadow leapt out from the corner of the corridor and jumped on top of Bill. They had overtaken the Death Eaters, whom had just emerged from the southern corridor leading to the great hall and one of them had just attacked.

For a second, Ron didn't know what to do. He saw a big, filthy, beastlike death eater on top of Bill, clawing at his face like a savage. His fingernails were black and sharp. The death eater then bit Bill, licking his lips afterwards. A big, blonde Death Eater sent green curses zooming over to him that luckily missed him by inches. They struck the wall beside him, smashing the stones they hit. This seemed to snap Ron out of his trance. He aimed his wand at the disgusting Death Eater on top of Bill and yelled _"Impedimenta!"_. Fenrir Greyback was lifted up from his feet and smashed into the wall beside the stairwell leading up the Astronomy Tower. Ron was about to hit him with the body-bind curse when his hand strayed and he yelled "Protego" instead. A purple blast, coming from his side was deflected sideways, flying inches overhead of Ginny.

When Ron turned to look where the blast had come from, he saw two death eaters, man and woman, fighting side-by-side. She was sending curses over to McGonagall, while the other kept deflecting curses sent by Lupin. Tonks and Ginny were both trying to subdue the huge blonde Death Eater, that was sending curses flying everywhere. Apparently, he didn't seem to care who he'd hit. Ron pointed his wand back to the Death Eater that had attacked Bill. He was still unconcious on the floor.

Alarmbells started ringing in his ears. Felix was desperately trying to attract his attention. A Death Eater Ron hadn't noticed before came running down the stairwell. Ron tried to aim a spell at him, but a green flare flew straight into his direction, making him sag together like a puppet. The ringing continued. He turned around to stand face-to-face with Malfoy. Both of them acted immediately.  
_"Expelliarmus!"_, Ron yelled, hearing the same spell from in front of him. Their curses, headed straight at each other, nullified each other's power.  
"What have you done, you idiot?" Ron yelled at Draco miserably, "And Why? Why did you do this?"  
"This is my testamony of loyalty to the dark lord," Draco said smugly, "I will be his favourite after today. Now get out of my way, you Bloodtraitor!"  
Ron widened the distance between his feet. In a calm, definitive way, he said:  
"I'll never stand aside for the likes of you."  
Both of them sent curses flying at each other. It was a short, and fiery battle, which Ron surely would have won it if he wasn't forced to jump aside to avoid one of the blonde Death Eater's killing curses. It shattered the flagstone Ron had stood on seconds before. Malfoy quickly took the opportunity to run past him, sprinting up the staircase. He was followed by a brutal-faced Death Eater and the two other Death Eaters that had been fighting together. The woman pointed her wand at the wolflike Death Eater, reviving him non-verbally. He too ran up the stairwell. Only the blonde Death Eater remained, still shooting curses and hexes in every direction. Both Ginny and McGonagall were desperately trying to fight him, but his never-ending torrent of spells withheld them from being able to send anything back. One of his spells, a flaming yellow bolt of fire, shot up at the ceiling after it ricocheted off professor McGonagall's powerful protection charm. When it hit, its fire flamed wide, leaving wide cracks. Moments later, the ceiling started to cave in. Clouds of dust and plaster billowed down as large stones and masonry came hurtling towards the flagstones of the corridor.

Neville was panting heavily. He had been hit in the side with a hex, making his breathing erratic.  
"Let's follow them!", he said, running at the staircase despite his lack of oxygen. Lupin was about to call him back when Neville was lifted off his feet and flew headlong through the corridor. Lupin carefully ran forward, stopping right in front of the step Neville had been thrown off. He pushed his hand forward, and subsequently toppled over backwards.  
"They've blocked the stairs!" he said with a loud voice when he got back up, "Reducto, REDUCTO!"  
From the side of Ron's eyes, he saw a black figure approaching. Ron turned around and, just before saying the spell, recognised the dark hair and hooked nose. Snape was running through the corridors, holding his wand in his hand and wearing a face of anxiety and bewilderment. For some reason, Felix seemed to be rather confused about him. One of the voices in Ron's head (and he wasn't sure whether it was his own or Felix's) was telling him to stop Snape. The other was keeping his wand hand down, preventing him from acting on this urge. Before Ron could make up his mind, Snape had ran up the stairs, somehow not hindered by the barrier.

Less than a minute later, Snape returned, spurring Malfoy forward. The other Death Eaters followed him and again, a battle ensued. Ron was attacked by one of the Death Eaters that had been fighting alongside the other. Using a variety of defensive spells and counter-jinxes, Ron was able to keep the barrage coming from the female Death Eater at bay.  
"It's over!" Snape said loudly, "Let's go!"  
In the corner of his eyes, Ron was able to see a boy with Harry's hair emerging from the astronomy tower. He didn't have time to react though, as the female Death Eater was still actively attacking him. She was shuffling alongside him, slowly creeping her way towards the door. When she reached it, she sent a barrage of jinxes and hexes at Ron, making him unable to send anything back until she was gone. The other Death Eaters were retreating too, even one that had quickly been revived.

Slowly, Ron fell to his knees. He had survived the attack, but terror kept filling his mind.  
"Where's Hermione?", he thought, "Is she okay? Is she safe? Why didn't she come in after Snape?"  
Then there was Bill. A large puddle of blood had formed around him, and Ron was afraid to look at his face. When he did, he saw that large parts of it had been mutilated. Ginny was standing in front of Bill too, looking down with tears in his eyes.  
"Is he...", she said, her voice shaking horribly, "Is he dead?"  
Ron walked over to her. He reached out his hand and pulled her in.  
"I don't think so," he said, not knowing what else to say to her.  
They stood there for more than a minute, looking down on their brother. Ron would have given anything to help him, but Felix told him it would be best if he'd wait for madam Pomfrey. She arrived moments later, letting out a muffled shriek as she saw the from of Bill lying on the ground. She whipped out her wand and magically raised him up, turning him around gently. Then, she set off for the hospital wing. Lupin came up seconds later, telling everyone that they were expected in the hospital wing in ten minutes time.

As Ron ran down the corridors with Madam Pomfrey, everything seemed to become numb. Ron did not know whether it was the Felix leaving his bloodstream, the emotions he was feeling about Bill, the doubts about Harry's safety or his fears about Hermione that had caused his head to become dazed. All he knew was that he wasn't even able to think straight. People shouting in the corridors became as elusive as the ghosts that darted across the castle, the pictures on the wall, pointing at him and his sister, didn't even register to him anymore. He half heard what Madam Pomfrey was saying and couldn't even find the words to respond. All that seemed to occupy his mind were the thoughts about Bill, about Harry and most of all, about Hermione.  
"Is this Charley?" Madam Pomfrey asked.  
"No", he heard Ginny say beside him, "It's Bill"  
Madam Pomfrey looked down on the deformed face of Bill Weasley.  
"Oh no, not Billy Weasley," she said, remembering him from his time at school, "He was always so handsome..."

Just before they entered the hospital wing, Ginny suddenly stopped.  
"What's wrong?" Ron asked, but again he knew what she was going to say before she'd said it.  
"I'm getting Harry"  
Ron thought about this.  
"Good idea, I'm getting Hermione."

He found her inside Snape's office, tending a passed out professor Flitwick.  
"Ronald," she asked with tears in her eyes, "What's happened? What's wrong?"  
Hermione looked him up and down, taking in the odd picture. Ron did too, seeing the bloody footprints he'd left behind on the wet flagstones and the white dust clinging to his robes.  
"It's Bill. He's... I tried to... But it's just... And the ceiling... and then.."  
Before Ron could finish his sentance, Hermione had pulled him in close.  
"Don't tell me Bill is...", she sputtered, "Don't tell me he's..."  
"No, but his face is all... bloody and... torn and..."  
Ron's voice trailed away, while Hermione was sobbing silently against his shirt and Luna was looking at them in that far-off way that she normally used. They were joined by Professor McGonagall minutes later, whom clearly expected to find professor Snape, but instead found three students and an unconcious member of the staff.  
"All three of you, report to the hospital wing. And take Professor Flitwick with you."

An hour later, Ron was sitting on his bed. What he had hoped would be a great evening (finally being able to 'show off' his wonderful girlfriend) had become a horrible day. Bits of plaster still fell off the sleeves of his robes, and the odd, mute feeling that had started after the Death Eaters had left had never been worse. Hermione had kissed him goodnight and had gone up to bed, but, just like Ron, she seemed to be oblivious to what was happening in the outside world. Their headmaster was gone. Albus Dumbledore, a man whom had always seemed to be so untarnishable to Ron was now gone from their lives, and with him went the best bits of advice and wisdom Ron had ever heard. He remembered how Dumbledore had rewarded him with an award for special services to the school on their second year. He remembered the crazy little oddments that made his personality so enjoyable and strong. Ron remembered how Dumbledore had denied his request to stop being a prefect, and how he had made him feel like he was a good prefect.  
"I never really thanked him for that," Ron thought to himself, "Not properly."

Fawkes's song, a grieving lament of dark beauty, had stopped echoing over the grounds, but it was still ringing clearly in Ron's head. It spoke to him about joy, friendship and love. After he had heard that Dumbledore was dead, after seeing his big brother on the bed with his face covered in blood, after seeing the dead Death Eater, Ron had thought he would never feel like that again, but Fawkes's song had made him remember it. While listening to it, his thoughts travelled to Hermione, and he knew she shared the same emotions.  
_It is nice having someone to share it with_, Ron thought, _It's nice to be able to feel so close to her._

It wasn't much later that the door opened and Harry came in. He had a numb look in his eyes, much like his own, Ron guessed. Harry sat down in front of him, exhausted and mentally broken. Their eyes crossed and Ron knew that this was enough to summarize the entire evening for both of them.  
"They're talking about closing the school", Harry said, after a minute of silence.  
"Lupin said they would."  
Ron was silently curious. Had the evening been succesful? Had Bill's sacrifice been worth the trouble?  
"So?" he dared cautiously, "Did you find one? Did you get it? A - a Horcrux?"  
Harry shook his head. Ron found out someone had already taken the locket. Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the locket. He passed it to Ron. Ron opened it and read the note.

"Is this what Bill has sacrificed himself for?" Ron thought angrily, "A part of Voldemort that wasn't even there? Had he nearly given his life for a locket that had already been stolen by someone named R.A.B.?"  
Then, Ron realized he was wrong. Bill had been savaged, not because of what Dumbledore had been looking for, not because of a part of Voldemorts soul, but because he had wanted to be there. Bill had chosen to be there, just like him, Ron thought proudly, to guard Hogwarts _with his life_.

Ron passed the locket back to Harry, took off the bloodstained and dusty clothes he had been wearing and got into bed. And without saying a word to anyone, fell asleep.

It would have been nice to say he had a dreamless sleep...


	20. The Last Day

Ron was sitting in one of Hogwarts' many grassy lots, looking at the steady sunrise. He'd been there before. He had kissed Hermione there, after Trelawny had sprinted away in a frantic mood. Now, it was one of his many secret hideouts. People kept coming up to him to ask him questions about _that night_. The order had done nearly everything to make sure nobody would find out any details about the events that had unrolled a few days before, so naturally, the whole school found out. It had turned everything upside down. A group of Gryffindors had been punished for 'getting payback' on a group of Slytherins. Neville had been propped up as some sort of hero, along with Harry, Hermione, Luna, Ginny and Ron himself.

_Figure that_, Ron thought, _You spend your whole life trying to get out of the shadow of your brothers, and when you finally do, the light is too bright for your eyes._ Ron wanted nothing more than to be left alone. Alone with his thoughts about himself, his family and the war. Alone with his thoughts about Hermione, their relationship and the death of Dumbledore. Snape's betrayal had left a deep gorge of disarray in the Order. He was their deepest informant. The Order of the Phoenix was now both leaderless and blind. McGonagall did her best to keep the Order together, but everyone knew that Snape's actions had left them crippled.

Ron sighed. It was a beautiful sunrise, he admitted to himself. The rays of the dawning sun were still cold, but the reddish glow they spread out over the Hogwarts grounds was impressive nonetheless. Ron sat there, against one of the trees, silently watching the shadows of the forest shortening and deepening. The sun, starting out as a crimson ball of fire visible just above the tops of the trees, rose steadily up in the air until it started to tinge yellow. Ron usually didn't get up this early, but his sleeping pattern had been disrupted completely by bad dreams and a turmoiled mind. He had found out that getting up early saved him several hours of restlessness in his bed.

It was eight o'clock when the first of the other students popped out on the ground. She walked determinately forward, heading straight for his hideout. There was a certain duality about her, Ron noticed. The first part was girly; insecure about her feelings, her appearance and her abilities. The other part was feminine; wizened by experience a girl of her age shouldn't yet have and sharpened by the books that she'd read.  
_She is the cleverest witch of her age_, Ron thought, _and to me, she's also the prettiest._  
"There you are," Hermione said as she reached his hiding place, "I've been looking all over for you."  
"I was just enjoying the scenery, I'm sorry if I scared you. But now that you're here, the scenery has definitely improved."  
Hermione blushed.  
"I was just sitting here. I needed some time to sort things out. You know, putting things back in perspective. Reorganizing my priority list."  
Hermione sat down next to him and crawled up against his chest.  
"Am I still on that list?"  
"Hermione, you _are_ the list."  
Together, they sat there, enjoying the last part of the sunrise. The sun steadily rose up and, hunched together, they enjoyed the first of the sun's warm rays.

"Hermione?" Ron asked after a while, "Can I tell you something?"  
"Of course."  
"When I first saw Snape coming from the corridor, I had half a mind of petrifying him. I know I shouldn't blame myself for letting Snape go, but every time I go over the night in my head, I wonder; was it Felix that stopped me from cursing him, or was I keeping Felix from it? And if Felix was keeping me from jinxing him, what does that mean?"  
Hermione extracted her head from Ron's chest. She looked up at him in a mystified way.  
"You mean whether it was you or Felix whom thought it best to let Snape pass?"  
"Yes."  
"I think you did your very best, Ronny. You and me, we're fighting in a war now. You can't look back and wish for things to have gone differently. You fought in a battle and you overcame. You've battled Death Eaters. If you had stopped Snape, someone else would have killed Dumbledore in his place. There were four Death Eaters with him on that tower Ron."  
"Five", Ron corrected her, "Malfoy was there too."

For a few minutes, Hermione and Ron sat there silently, enjoying the calm and gentle weather. Ron was going over what Hermione had said. She was right, he concluded in the end. If he had stopped Snape, than someone else would have finished the job. Hermione was still propped up against his chest, enjoying it's movement as it went up and down with Ron's breathing.  
"Ron?"  
"Yes?"  
"What do we do about us?" she asked tentatively, "I mean, we've been keeping this a secret for quite some time now. We should tell Harry soon."  
Ron nodded. Hermione was right. Harry had the right to know about it. Only, he had gone through hell and back these last few days.  
"Perhaps we should tell him after the funeral," Ron thought, "in the Hogwarts Express."  
Hermione encircled Ron in a huge hug.  
"We need to get changed," Hermione said, "The ceremony is going to start at noon. We'd better be prepared."  
Ron stood up quickly and helped Hermione get up. She pulled him in close, enjoying the warmth of his embrace.  
"I love you," she said softly, "More than anything in the world."  
"I'll never leave you," Ron replied, "I never want to be separated from you again. That night, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I couldn't stop worrying. I want everyone to know you are my girlfriend, and when they do, they'll never see either of us alone. Death Eaters or not, I will not go through another year without you by my side as my girlfriend."  
Hermione blushed. She pulled Ron in even tighter.  
"Ron," she whispered, "I didn't know you were such a poet."

The funeral went by in a haze of blurry emotions. Hermione was sitting next to Ron, holding his hands and weeping against his shoulder. Ron held her close, fighting the tears in his own eyes during the entire procession. When the altar Dumbledore had been put to rest on went up in flames and had been replaced by a tomb of white marble, Ron finally broke. Tears he had been trying to keep from his eyes were now freely flowing down.  
_There he goes_, Ron thought, _That old and wise man._  
Almost instantly, he recalled his conversation with Dumbledore when he wanted to quit being a Prefect. It was one of the few times he had been alone with Dumbledore. It would always stay with him as a turning point in his life. Dumbledore had revealed so much to him that day. Dumbledore had made him feel secure about is abilities. That self-security had made him strong enough to face his only fear: telling Hermione that he loved her.  
"I owe you so much, old man, " Ron whispered later, when he stood in front of the white tomb, touching the cold marble with his fingertips, "I will never forget the lessons that you told me."

Hermione reached out for his shoulder and pulled Ron back from the tomb. She looked at him with tear-shot eyes.  
"Maybe this is the last day for us here," she said fearfully, "If we go along with Harry, we might never see this place again."  
Ron nodded. He had given this some thought too. It had been quite obvious that Harry wanted to go and look for the Horcruxes, so when he had told them about his plans, Ron immediately knew what to say. They were going to come along.  
"The Hogwarts Express is going to be here in an hour. I want to do something with you before we leave."  
"What do you want to do? Where do you want to go?"  
"I'll show you when we get there. Trust me."  
Ron stretched out his hand, waiting for Hermione to grab it.  
"I trust you, Ron."  
And with that, she took his hand and fingers intertwined, left for Hogwarts' front doors.

Ron knew just where to go. He had wanted to do this for years, and the prospect of not returning to Hogwarts might mean this was his last chance. Hermione followed him silently, sometimes commenting on what she thought they might be heading for. It became quite apparent when they entered the corridor on the third floor. It was still slightly darkened, as though clouds were blocking the sun from shining through the windows. It was a side effect of the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder that Draco had used.  
"The Room of Requirement!" Hermione piped excitedly, "That's what we're heading for!"  
"As always, you've solved the riddle," Ron joked. He walked up to the hidden door and passed it thrice, thinking of what he needed. Just as always, the room delivered. A soft swishing sound emanated as the door became visible. Ron opened it slowly, extending his hand to allow Hermione in. She was breathless.

Inside the Room of Requirement was a ballroom. Its dark, ebony floor was shining, as though it had been waxed the night before. An old gramophone player, with a big golden horn was set up on a table in the corner. The walls around the floor were lined with shelves, each of them holding hundreds of old dusty records. The ceiling was high, nearly three stories high, with chandeliers hanging down on thick steel chains. They were lit by hundreds of candles, that gave the room a pleasant glow. Big windows lined every side of the room, casting a sparkling starlight down on the mahogany floor. Ron heard Hermione gasp in amazement and wonder. He crossed the room deliberately and reached into one of the shelves. He extracted an old, red cover from it, and placed its content gingerly in the gramophone player. Hermione was still reading the backs of some record covers when the gramophone player started playing a pleasant, harmonious melody that echoed off the walls.  
"Hermione?" he asked, "Can I have this dance with you?"

Hermione accepted. Together, they spent several songs dancing, even though neither of them was any good at it. Ron nearly tripped over his jumpers, while Hermione stepped on his toes twice. Still, they knew they were both having a great time. Ron was visibly happy, a big, lopsided grin on his face. He was finally dancing with his Hermione, a dance he had wanted to have ever since the Yule Ball. Hermione was leaning on Ron blissfully, enjoying their private little dance with him. Harry, the Horcurxes, the War, everything would have to wait, because Hermione was dancing with her Ron at last.

**a/n: This was the final chapter of my story _Hermione's Gift_.** **I penned it down a couple of years ago, and though I quickly ran it through spell checker and re-read everything, it is pretty much the same as it was back then. I want to thank my readers for reading and enjoying the story. Your many kind words of encouragement and joy are always appreciated. **

**At the time of writing this, Deathly Hallows was not yet released. The story is meant to be read with that in mind, and I hope that you won't judge it too hardly just because it doesn't quite add up to the final installment of the franchise.  
**

**I will be spending my time writing on _Lumos Construction_ and _Bonded Wands, Bonded Spirits_. I've also got a number of stories that are currently on hiatus on grounds of a full schedule or writer's block. I fully intend to finish them as time progresses.**


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